After 10 years in the United Kingdom, Venkatraman “Venki” Ramakrishnan will return to the U, where his Nobel Prize-winning research began, for a day of teaching.
The former U scientist’s Ramakrishnan’s research involving the structure of ribosomes could lead to designing better antibiotics. The research won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
“It was in Utah that I started working and made the initial breakthrough,” he said. “It was a very hard decision to leave.”
Wednesday, Ramakrishnan will return to the U to give a lecture at the Huntsman Cancer Institute for his scientific peers and later that day will address the public at the Rice-Eccles Stadium Tower about his ribosome research.
From 1995 to 1999, Ramakrishnan worked at the U in the department of biochemistry. He had been working on research involving ribosomes since he was a post-doctorate student at Yale in 1978. Ramakrishnan left the U because he was worried about not having enough funding for the research, he said. With most grants, the researchers apply for three to four years of funding and need to show significant progress in order to reapply for more, he said.
Ramakrishnan said he was worried that he needed to dedicate all of his time to one project, but in doing so, he risked betting it all on one concept that might not pan out and lose funding. It was a hard decision, but he decided to leave the U for the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, which has more stable funding for research, he said.
Ramakrishnan’s research bounced X-rays off crystals attached to ribosomes to determine the structure of the cell component, he said. Ribosomes produce amino acids, which in turn create various proteins the body needs. By studying the ribosomes’ structure and the genetic code, drug companies could design better antibiotics to fight infections, he said.
Winning the Nobel Prize has not gone to Ramakrishnan’s head. With the money from the prize, he paid off the mortgage on his house and bought his son a cello, he said.
“I hope it doesn’t change me,” Ramakrishnan said. “I can now afford to take on more difficult projects, such as studying the ribosomes from higher organisms.”
One of the more complex organisms Ramakrishnan wishes to study is yeast, which is more closely related to human structures of cells than bacteria, he said. He said he would also like to look into the “start process,” in which the ribosomes first begin to produce proteins. By studying this, researchers might be able to better understand viruses that hijack normal cells’ “start processes” to make their own proteins to infect the body, Ramakrishnan said.