Dr. Murad is a red wine drinker, always a good sign in my book, and came across as a very personable guy, who I get the impression has his fingers in a lot of different pies. He's currently working with the Chinese government to help legitamize the herbal medicines that have been in use in the Far East for centuries. Basically, Dr. Murad is getting a crapload of money from them to figure out which ingredients are active and how they work. If he can do that, it will pave the way for these API's to be introduced to the west. By the sounds of things, he's pretty much cornering the market on this work and will no doubt profit greatly from any discoveries he makes. He also took the opportunity while at UT to apparently grill some of the professors here about their ideas concerning medicinal chemistry. From what I hear, he practically had to be pried out of Ben Lui's office with a crow bar. And he also said he uses these visitations and lectures to scout out potential post docs for his lab. Always thinking, these Nobel prize winners.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
40 geeky grad students and 1 Nobel Laureate
We were asked by my friend Jamie Vernon to host a potluck dinner at our house in honor of the 4th speaker in the Gottlieb Lecture Series. This gives the grad students in UT's cell and molecular biology program and biochemistry program the chance to hang out with the speaker in a more intimate environ, whether it is to pick his brains or simply bask in his glory. We hosted about 40 grad students, who brought an impressive spread of alcohol, food and desserts, and Dr. Ferid Murad, the 1998 winner of the Nobel prize in medicine.
Dr. Murad is a red wine drinker, always a good sign in my book, and came across as a very personable guy, who I get the impression has his fingers in a lot of different pies. He's currently working with the Chinese government to help legitamize the herbal medicines that have been in use in the Far East for centuries. Basically, Dr. Murad is getting a crapload of money from them to figure out which ingredients are active and how they work. If he can do that, it will pave the way for these API's to be introduced to the west. By the sounds of things, he's pretty much cornering the market on this work and will no doubt profit greatly from any discoveries he makes. He also took the opportunity while at UT to apparently grill some of the professors here about their ideas concerning medicinal chemistry. From what I hear, he practically had to be pried out of Ben Lui's office with a crow bar. And he also said he uses these visitations and lectures to scout out potential post docs for his lab. Always thinking, these Nobel prize winners.
Kenan, Dr. Murad, Chad & Greg
So the last of them crawled home at about 11. An hour of cleaning and storing away tons of leftovers later, we were snug in bed and sleeping soundly knowing that we won't need to cook again for a week. Free food - the ultimate grad student prize...
Dr. Murad is a red wine drinker, always a good sign in my book, and came across as a very personable guy, who I get the impression has his fingers in a lot of different pies. He's currently working with the Chinese government to help legitamize the herbal medicines that have been in use in the Far East for centuries. Basically, Dr. Murad is getting a crapload of money from them to figure out which ingredients are active and how they work. If he can do that, it will pave the way for these API's to be introduced to the west. By the sounds of things, he's pretty much cornering the market on this work and will no doubt profit greatly from any discoveries he makes. He also took the opportunity while at UT to apparently grill some of the professors here about their ideas concerning medicinal chemistry. From what I hear, he practically had to be pried out of Ben Lui's office with a crow bar. And he also said he uses these visitations and lectures to scout out potential post docs for his lab. Always thinking, these Nobel prize winners.
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