Image by Nathan Pitt ©University of Cambridge
On 4 April 2025, as part of the Novo Nordisk Prize 2024, Prof. Shankar Balasubramanian and Prof. David Klenerman hosted the “Frontiers in Biophysics and Chemical Biology” Symposium at the Yusuf Hamied Dept. of Chemistry.
Funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, this one-day symposium featured an unprecedented gathering of five world-leading scientists at the forefront of genetics, biophysics, and chemical biology for an insightful day of discussions. The symposium provided a platform for these distinguished scientists to share their cutting-edge research, offering attendees a unique opportunity to engage in thought-provoking discussions. Their presentations covered critical areas such as genetic engineering, molecular imaging, and biophysics research, shedding light on how biophysics and chemical biology are shaping the future of medicine, biotechnology, and genetic research.
Among the speakers were Prof. Ed Boyden (MIT) an expert in optogenetics and neuroengineering, Prof. Jason Chin (University of Cambridge) a leader in synthetic biology and genetic code expansion, Prof. Thomas Carell (LMU Munich) known for his work in nucleic acid chemistry and epigenetics, Prof. Chuan He (University of Chicago) a leading researcher in RNA and DNA modifications, and Prof. Xiaowei Zhuang (Harvard University) an innovator in single-molecule imaging and super-resolution microscopy.
This event underscored the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s commitment to fostering scientific collaboration and knowledge exchange in the pursuit of scientific excellence.