Professor Thomas Kornberg from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), recently visited the International Campus of Zhejiang University, where he delivered lectures and engaged in discussions with faculty and students.
On April 21, Chief of the International Campus land representatives provided an overview of the International Campus for Professor Kornberg, highlighting the Campus’s efforts in global education and scientific innovation. Kornberg praised the campus’s innovative education model and the high level of student competencies. All parties engaged in in-depth discussions on enhancing faculty-student exchanges and other collaboration efforts.
On April 22 and 23, Professor Kornberg delivered an academic lecture titled "Signaling at Cell-Cell Contacts in Development and Disease" at ZJE. He elucidated the functional mechanisms of cytonemes in intercellular signaling and participated in intensive academic discussions with faculty and students.
Professor Kornberg is a cytoneme research pioneer and the first person to purify and characterize DNA polymerase II and III. His lab used fruit flies to analyze how cytonemes in wing imaginal discs regulate intercellular communication for cell differentiation. His groundbreaking "cytoneme" theory revolutionized academic understanding of long-range cell signaling, offering new perspectives for developmental biology and novel targets for disease treatment.
The theory explains how protein signals are directly transferred from producing cells to recipient cells via specialized filamentous structures called cytonemes.
Beyond his scientific achievements, Professor Kornberg is a cellist and a former student of the Juilliard School, he is still actively performing.
Thomas Kornberg performing the first movement of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major with his undergraduate classmate and Grammy Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax.
Article and Photography: ZHAO Kaiyue, WU Xiaojie, XU Tianli, Jia Lingyan
Editing: LI Yinan, LI Songjiao, WU Xinyi
Editing in charge: ZHANG Yi
Reviewer: Bruce Prentice, YANG Yi
Final Review: QU Haidong