NIGMS Director Jon Lorsch to give virtual keynote for UND’s 42nd annual Frank Low Research Day
GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), will give the keynote presentation at UND’s 42nd annual Frank Low Research Day sponsored by the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
Named in honor of the former SMHS anatomy professor who came to UND in the 1960s and pioneered a series of new techniques for the electron microscope, Frank Low Research Day is the culminating event of the academic year for many area researchers working in the biomedical and health sciences.
At this year’s event, SMHS faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, residents, and graduate, medical, and health sciences students will present prerecorded presentations on a wide range of basic biomedical, health sciences, translational, and clinical topics with live question-and-answer sessions for each presenter.
“We’re excited as always about Frank Low Day,” said Dr. Jamie Foster, assistant professor in the SMHS Department of Biomedical Sciences. “Despite the continuing pandemic, we're happy to continue to offer an online event that not only contributes to the intellectual culture of the community but to the health and workforce needs of North Dakota.”
Dr. Lorsch’s presentation, “NIGMS Programs and Priorities,” will be streamed from the SMHS website at: med.und.edu/research/frank-low.html.
As NIGMS Director, Lorsch oversees the Institute’s $3 billion budget, which supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
A leader in RNA biology, Lorsch studies the initiation of translation, a major step in controlling how genes are expressed. When this process goes awry, viral infection, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer can result. To dissect the mechanics of translation initiation, Lorsch and collaborators developed a yeast-based system and a wide variety of biochemical and biophysical methods. The work also has led to efforts to control translation initiation through chemical reagents, such as drugs. Lorsch continues this research as a tenured investigator in the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Lorsch is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, and other papers. He has also been the editor of six volumes of Methods in Enzymology and has been a reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He is the author on two awarded U.S. patents. His honors include six teaching awards from Johns Hopkins University.
“We have been able to keep our research enterprise going despite COVID, and I’m very pleased that we are able to now showcase the outstanding work that our faculty and trainees have been doing,” added Marc Basson, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., the School’s senior associate dean for Medicine and Research. “It’s particularly exciting to see even more participation than last year by our students and residents. Now, more than ever, we understand the importance of scholarship that not only advances science but also contributes to public health.”
Frank Low Research Day is free and open to the public. Interested guests can review the event’s agenda at the URL listed above.
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Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
School of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of North Dakota
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu | med.und.edu