 
Symposium
Sat., March 25, to honor Professor Daniel Koshland Jr.: biochemist,
visionary and UC Berkeley benefactor
23
Mar 2000
By
Robert Sanders, Public Affairs
BERKELEY
-- Biochemist Daniel E. Koshland Jr., who used to sign his opinion
pieces "Dr. Noitall" when he was editor of Science,
will be honored for his opinionated views and innovative science
with a symposium on Saturday, March 25.
Hosted
by the University of California, Berkeley, where Koshland obtained
his BS in chemistry in 1941 and has served on the faculty since
1965, the symposium is billed as "Celebrating 60 Years
of Innovation: The Scientific Career of Dr. Noitall."
"We're
doing this to recognize the great science Dan has carried out
in his own lab as well as fostered on the campus," said
Robert Tjian, professor of molecular and cell biology and one
of the organizers of the symposium. "He's a man of incredible
energy and vision in steering the Berkeley campus in the right
direction in terms of biological research."
In
the 1980s, Koshland spearheaded a reorganization of the biological
sciences at UC Berkeley that positioned the university at the
cutting edge of biology, and he is one of the forces behind
a new research and educational push called the UC Berkeley Health
Sciences Initiative.
The
symposium will feature talks by two Nobel Laureates - David
Baltimore, now president of Caltech and a 1975 laureate for
his work on tumor viruses, and Joseph L. Goldstein, who received
the prize in 1985 for discoveries concerning the regulation
of cholesterol metabolism. Four of his former students also
will give talks.
Open
to the public, the symposium will take place from 1 to 5 p.m.
in Chan Shun Auditorium, in the campus's Valley Life Sciences
Building.
Koshland,
who turns 80 on March 30, is a professor in the graduate school
at UC Berkeley and one of the most respected scientists in the
country. His reputation as a statesman of science rests in part
on his 10-year tenure, from 1985 to 1994, as editor of Science,
considered the most important editorial position in American
science.
As
editor Koshland wrote many editorials, and he came up with the
name "Dr. Noitall" as a guise for writing humorous
opinion pieces. The name is a double pun that lampoons know-it-all
scientists who at the same time dismiss the work of others as
trivial.
Before
taking the position at Science, he made a name for himself by
challenging the reigning theory of how enzymes work, and, through
painstaking research, by proving he was right. Aside from his
scientific work and leadership on the UC Berkeley campus, he
also has donated to a wide variety of campus scholarship and
research funds.
"Dan
Koshland is a rare bird," said Goldstein, a professor at
the University of Texas at Southwestern, upon presenting Koshland
with the Albert & Mary Lasker Foundation Special Achievement
in Medical Science Award in 1998. "His career in science
is exemplified by a distinction that is achieved by only a handful
of scientists who are held in universally high esteem by their
colleagues because of their human qualities of honesty, kindness,
unselfishness, originality and wisdom, and in Dan's case there's
also wit."
In
receiving the award, Koshland was cited "for a lifetime
devoted to elevating science to its highest level - exemplified
by accomplishments on diverse fronts as a visionary biochemist,
tireless institution-builder, and eloquent public communicator."
He
has received numerous other awards, including the National Medal
of Science, the Edgar Fahs Smith and Pauling Awards of the American
Chemical Society, the Rosenstiel Award of Brandeis University,
the Waterford Prize, and the Merck Award of the American Society
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
A
member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Koshland also has served as president
of the American Society of Biological Chemists.
Program
for Saturday, March 25, 1-5 p.m.:
Keynote
Speakers:
Dr. David Baltimore, president, Caltech.
"Why Should Cells Die When They Can Fight Back?"
Dr.
Joseph Goldstein, professor, University of Texas at Southwestern.
"The Cholesterol Feedback Story"
Other
presenters:
Dr. Alex Levitski, professor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
"From Enzyme Regulation To Signal Transduction Therapy:
An Unfinished Journey from Berkeley to Jerusalem"
Dr.
Daria Mochly-Rosen, professor, Stanford University
"Protein Kinase C Specificity: Location, Location, Location"
Dr.
Robert Tjian, professor, University of California, Berkeley
"Assembly of Macromolecular Machines that Decode the Genome"
Dr.
Jean Y. J. Wang, professor, University of California, San Diego
"Amplification of Apoptosis Signal in Cell Killing by Tumor
Necrosis Factor"
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