Lecture
Heineken Prize Laureate Jennifer Doudna speaks at Wageningen University & Research
On the 30th September Wageningen University & Research welcomes two Heineken Prize laureates. Jennifer Doudna, professor of Biomedical Sciences at UC Berkeley, and Edze Westra, researcher at the University of Exeter and Wageningen alumnus. This year they respectively receive the prestigious Heineken Prize for and the Heineken Young Scientist Award, both for Biochemistry and Biophysics. Both are pioneers of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary method that enables scientists to modify the DNA of plants, animals and even humans more precisely than ever before. Wageningen researcher John van der Oost has also studied CRISPR-Cas for years.
Because of its enormous possibilities CRISPR-technologies evoke many ethical questions. What are, for instance, the risks of changing our genetic material? Should we release genetically modified organisms into nature? And were lie the moral borders of what we should or should not change? Doudna and Westra will discuss these and other questions, moderated by Philiph Macnaghten, professor in Technology and International Development at Wageningen University & Research. The contributions fit in the Wageningen Dialogues to strengthen the connection between science and society.
Schedule
15:00 Lecture hall opens, large hall Orion (C1040), Campus Wageningen University
15:30 Welcome by John van der Oost, Professor at the Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University
15:35 Lecture Edze Westra, researcher at University of Exeter, recipient of the Heineken Young Scientist Award for Biochemistry and Biophysics 2016
16:00 Lecture Jennifer Doudna, professor of Biomedical Sciences at UC Berkeley, recipient of the Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics 2016
16:45 Debate on the implications of CRISPR-technology moderated by Philip Macnaghten, professor in Technology and International Development, Wageningen University & Research
17:15 – 18:00 - Drinks at The Spot (Orion)
The lectures take place in hall C1040 of the Orion-building, Bronland 1 on Wageningen Campus. Admission is free, but registration is obligatory.