I have just received an email from NASA Astrobiology, annoncing the 2011 Suddath Symposium on the Robosome at Georgia Tech, which will be held on April 1st and 2nd in 2011. This symposium can be participated remotely via the Internet, upon the registration. I personally look forward to participaing in this symposium through "Virtual Hallway Conversation".
The outlines of Announcement is as follows: (copy from the email)
The robosome is a molecular machine that is responsible for protein synthesis in all living cells, and this indespensable component of life, which contains both RNA and proteins from distantly related organisms suggests that the origin and evolution of protein symthesis remain imprinted in present day robosomes, providing a "rewidable" molecular recording of early evolution that appears to go all the way back to the origin of life.
Because the ribosome is central to the biochemistry of all life, it is a major target for drug development. For example, the mode of action of many antibiotics is to inhibit translation or cause bacterial ribosome to make mistakes during protein synthesis.
Due to differences between bacterial and eukaryotic ribosimes, the result of billions of year of divergent evolution, drugs can be highly effective against bacterial ribosomes without causing appreciable side effects in human cells. Thus, studies of ribosome structure, function and evolution have scientific implications ranging from understanding the origin and early evolution of life to the development of novel pharmaceuticals.
In the meantime, 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the researches about "Ribosome". Since I'm very interested in the origin of life, I'm expecting that this symposium may provide some insights for this theme.
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