Dr. Roger Kornberg

Dr. ROGER KORNBERG (Biochemist & Biochemistry Nobel Laureate)

Roger Kornberg studied chemistry at Harvard University and later completed his PhD in chemical physics at Stanford in 1972. After spending time at Cambridge, England, and at Harvard Medical School, Kornberg returned to Stanford in 1978, where he carried out the research that led to his Nobel Prize. His contributions included determining the structure of the enzyme active in the process–RNA polymerase– and creating images of how the RNA molecule is constructed, a mystery that had persisted since the discovery of DNA.

I: Thank you so much for welcoming me into your office here at Stanford. What would you say is nowadays the main focus in biochemistry?

RK: I would say in some respect it has always been the understanding of life chemistry and especially human chemistry. In past years, that work focused on metabolism, so on the conversion of foodstuffs to energy, and then on biosynthesis, the formation of the components of the body. In recent years it has been especially concerned with the information for development, that is to say the process by which a single cell gives rise to a complex multicellular organism with a special focus on immunity and on the nervous system, the brain, and ultimately the desire to understand cognition. All of which, one day, will be understood in chemical terms. All of the world, everything around us, is chemistry.

I: What do you think are the biggest challenges then?

RK: Fundamentally, the limitation is and always has been financial. All of the problems that we face are in some way or another ultimately amenable to investigation. They can be solved. Everything ranging from disease, including both illness such as you know it, but also mental and other psychological affliction, all the way to lifespan. All of it ultimately is going to succumb to chemical analysis. It’s only a question of time, and the time in turn depends on the scale of the investment.

I: Are you involved personally in finding funds?

RK: The primary source of investment comes from the government and so I and others in a similar position will speak publicly and make representations before elected bodies. I’ve testified before Congress, in the United States, the Senate, the House of Representatives. I’ve visited the White House, done everything possible to….

THIS IS A SAMPLE FROM THE INTERVIEW WITH DR. ROGER KORNBERG

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