The Weekly Blog: 1/31/07

NOTE: This post was originally published at princetonalumniweekly.blogspot.com/

Nobel laureate examines embryonic science

In the preface of his Albert Einstein Memorial Lecture, delivered Jan. 30 at Robertson Hall, Nobel laureate and Princeton molecular biology professor Eric Wieschaus spoke about the everyday joys of laboratory science. “What drives us, often, is not just intellectual curiosity, and it’s not just the great social goals and the good that science can bring,” he said, “[but also] the inherent human pleasure that scientists take in doing things with your hands in the lab.”

Using examples drawn from the hands-on experimental work of his colleagues, Wieschaus examined what scientists have learned in the last two decades about how embryos develop in fruit flies, frogs, and mammals. He also said a “sea change” in embryology is underway, with the field turning its focus to the logic and circuitry that generates patterns in the development of embryos. Future embryologists will need to be fluent in computational biology, he predicted, because these molecular circuits “may be better described in the language of physics and math.”

Wieschaus, a winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Medicine, was the 13th Nobel laureate to deliver the Einstein Lecture. The event is presented annually by the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.

On the scene: Brrrr

It may have been 21 degrees outside, but nothing stops the Orange Key tour guides. Sarah Harrison ’09, left, leads a group of hardy visitors Jan. 26 on a brisk walk across campus.

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski