The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to two scientists who discovered a new family of biological molecules that can control the most basic events of cellular life and organismal development. These microRNAs are small ribonucleic acids that can turn on and off thousands of genes in the genome. This is extremely important, as the genome is like an instruction manual for the human body, and the microRNA act as decoder keys to generate all the different cell types. Dr. Audas will discuss how microRNA can control the human genome, and how disruption of this important process can lead to debilitating diseases, such as cancer.

Timothy Audas is an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University in the department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a Canada Research Chair. His research focuses on understanding how noncoding RNA controls protein mis-folding events that have been linked to common neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Proteins are vital to life, orchestrating everything from muscle movement to neuron communication and immune defense. Their remarkable functions depend on intricate 3D shapes, making understanding these shapes essential for developing new disease treatments. Traditionally, uncovering these shapes was a labor-intensive and uncertain endeavor. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry honors three scientists who revolutionized this field by developing computational methods to predict protein shapes from amino acid sequences alone, solving a 50-year-old challenge in biology. This innovation is transforming drug discovery and biotechnology, paving the way for designing entirely new proteins. Join Dr. King as he explores this story at the intersection of biology and artificial intelligence.

Dustin King is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University. His research focuses on the fundamental biochemical mechanisms through which organisms detect CO2 gas, especially its role in triggering virulence in human pathogens.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their pioneering work in artificial neural networks, which are computational models inspired by the human brain's network of neurons. Their foundational discoveries have enabled machines to learn from data, recognize patterns, and make decisions, forming the backbone of modern artificial intelligence (AI) applications we encounter daily, such as voice recognition, image classification, and autonomous vehicles. This groundbreaking work exemplifies the profound connection between fundamental physics principles and cutting-edge technological advancements, highlighting how understanding complex systems can lead to innovations that transform our interaction with the world.​

Andrei Frolov is a professor at Simon Fraser University specializing in theoretical cosmology and general relativity. His research delves into the early universe, models of inflation, and aspects of string cosmology. Dr. Frolov has contributed significantly to our understanding of cosmic microwave background and has been involved in major collaborations such as the Planck mission, Simons Observatory, and CMB-S4. Beyond his academic pursuits, he is an avid outdoorsman, accomplished backpacker, and nature photographer.