June, 2024 – Campus Lecture: RNA Revolution: A Conversation with Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikó
The record-breaking speed at which the coronavirus pandemic was overcome would not have been possible without the decades-long work of Dr. Katalin Karikó. Together with her colleague Drew Weissman, she shed light on the inner workings of mRNA – insights that proved pivotal in developing coronavirus vaccines. Her substantial contributions to science have earned her numerous prestigious awards, including the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Today, she serves as a professor at her alma mater, the University of Szeged in Hungary, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
In case you were not able to join the Novartis Campus Lecture in person, the recording is now live on our YouTube Channel:
RNA Revolution
Katalin Karikó is professor at her alma mater, University of Szeged, Hungary, and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked for 24 years. She is former senior vice president at BioNTech SE, Mainz, Germany, where she worked between 2013-2022. Her patents, co-invented with Drew Weissman on nucleoside-modified uridines in mRNA was used to create the FDA-approved COVID-19 mRNA vaccines by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna to fight the pandemic. For her achievements she received many prestigious awards, including the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
April, 2024 – Industrynight
January, 2024 – Museumsnight
November, 2023 – Campus lecture: Rocket science meets life sciences
Born in rural Switzerland in the small town of Heiligenschwendi, Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen has not just traveled the world during his illustrious career as a scientist. He has literally aimed for the stars. Against all odds and his family’s opposition, he pursued a career in astrophysics to become the longest serving leader of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. We are proud to invite Dr. Zurbuchen to our next Novartis Lecture, where he will talk about his real-life space odyssey and may answer questions on how the life science hub in Basel can benefit from the breakthroughs in rocket science.
In case you were not able to join the Novartis Campus Lecture in person, the recording is now live on our YouTube Channel:
Rocket science meets life sciences
Biography
Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA from 2016 to 2022. Previously Professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. Also founder of the largest Entrepreneurship programme at American Universities - the Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship - and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.
September, 2023 – Behind the science: From Basel into the world
June, 2023 – Behind the science: Medicinal Chemistry
May, 2023 – Novartis Campus Lecture: Places for Inspiration
On May 11, 2023, neuroscientist Colin Ellard took us on a journey back to his childhood visit to Stonehenge, where he felt an overwhelming sense of awe and anticipation. This experience ignited his exploration of how architecture can stir emotions. Ellard shared fascinating examples, like Bernini's Baldacchino in St. Peter's Cathedral, conveying suffering, and Frank Gehry's playful designs with their curvy, organic forms.
The event took place at the Novartis Campus, where new work models have been pioneered for the past two decades. With debates about the future of the workplace taking center stage across the globe, it is more important than ever to consider the impact of architecture on human psychology and behavior, and how buildings can inspire us to achieve great things.
In case you were not able to join the Novartis Campus Lecture in person, the recording is now live on our YouTube Channel:
Places for Inspiration
Biography
Colin Ellard is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo and director of its Urban Realities Laboratory, working at the intersection of urban design and experimental psychology. A practising scientist and sought-after international lecturer, Ellard also works in collaboration and partnership with architects, museum curators and NGO representatives to enrich the public debate about the importance of the built environment. His most recent book is Places of the Heart (Bellevue Literary Press, 2015).