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to press release index SHKP and CUHK Present Nobel Laureate Lecture
The lecture is on ¡§The Unique Role of Nitric Oxide as a Signaling Molecule¡¨. Nitric Oxide is an air pollutant, but it is also a signaling molecule in many functional systems and is beneficial to the human body. Professor Ignarro is the first scientist to discover that Nitric Oxide is responsible for penile erection. This led to the development of the drug Viagra, which has revolutionized the treatment of impotency. There are many as yet unknown functions of Nitric Oxide. This allows for an extensive opportunity to develop novel drugs to treat common disorders such as hypertension, stroke, atherosclerosis, angina pectoris, heart failure, and gastrointestinal ulcers. In the lecture, Professor Ignarro will talk about how Nitric Oxide strengthens the cardiovascular system and protects the body from pathological conditions. A limited number of free tickets are reserved for the public, providing Hong Kong people a chance to benefit from scholarly wisdom. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis while stocks last. Details of the lecture
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Professor Louis J. Ignarro was born in 1941 in Brooklyn , New York . He received a B.Sc. degree in Pharmacy/Chemistry from Columbia University in 1962, and a Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology/Physiology from the University of Minnesota in 1966. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the US National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology from 1966 to 1968. Professor Ignarro's first research position after training was with the CIBA-Geigy Pharmaceutical Company and in 1973 took on his first academic position at Tulane Medical Center in the Department of Pharmacology. In 1985, he accepted the position of Professor of Pharmacology at the UCLA School of Medicine, where he remains today. His current endowed position is the Jerome J. Belzer, MD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology. Professor Ignarro has received many awards but perhaps the most notable are: the Basic Research Prize of the American Heart Association, election into the National Academy of Sciences, election into the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Professor Louis J. Ignarro and two other scientists received the Nobel Prize for their three major discoveries involving nitric oxide as a unique signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. In 1972, Professor Ignarro discovered that nitric oxide causes vasodilation, a widening of the blood vessels, and inhibition of thrombosis, which leads to improved blood flow to the arteries and veins. In 1986, he confirmed his suspicion that blood vessels can make nitric oxide, the active ingredient in nitroglycerin, a common drug used to treat heart conditions. Experiments in 1990 led to the discovery that nitric oxide is the neurotransmitter responsible for penile erection. The discovery made it possible for a drug company to develop and market Viagra, the first oral medication for the effective treatment of erectile dysfunction. Professor Ignarro's discoveries created an explosion of research involving nitric oxide. In 1986, there were a dozen papers published on nitric oxide and just 10 years later, there were about 7,600 papers published on nitric oxide. His observations with nitric oxide have made it possible for medical professionals to understand what protects the cardiovascular system against pathological conditions such as hypertension, stroke, coronary artery disease and other forms of atherosclerosis, gastrointestinal ulcers and vascular complications of diabetes. Lecture synopsis The field of nitric oxide (NO) research has developed in explosive proportions since the discovery of naturally occurring NO in 1986. The biological importance of NO was first suggested by the observations that the drug nitroglycerin widens the blood vessels and lowers blood pressure by liberating NO directly in the blood vessel. NO was shown to work by elevating the tissue levels of another signaling molecule known as cyclic GMP. These observations were quickly followed by those demonstrating that NO inhibits blood clotting by interfering with platelet function, again via the actions of cyclic GMP. The cyclic GMP system represents the principal signal transduction mechanism by which NO elicits many of its physiological effects in the mammalian species. More recently, however, cyclic GMP-independent pathways have been discovered which can account for certain biological actions of NO. The most important is the alteration of certain proteins and consequent modification of protein function. This mechanism may be important in both physiological and pathophysiological actions of NO. NO plays important regulatory roles not only in blood vessels per se but also in the peripheral nervous system, where NO is the principal neurotransmitter of the nerves that communicate with various tissues including the erectile tissue. The neurotransmitter NO produces a cyclic GMP-dependent relaxation of smooth muscle in erectile tissue, thereby promoting erectile function. NO may function in a similar way also in the gastrointestinal tract to facilitate the movement of ingested contents, and in the airways to promote breathing. Based on these properties of NO, new drugs can be developed for the treatment of hypertension, stroke, angina pectoris, heart failure, vascular complications of diabetes, gastrointestinal ulcers, impotency and other vascular disorders. An excellent example of the application of basic information learned about NO has been the development of sildenafil or Viagra, which has revolutionized the treatment of impotency, one of the most prevalent disorders in the world. NO elicits many other actions in mammalian systems including inhibition of cell growth, antibacterial effects, other anti-infectious effects, and also promotes learning and memory as well as smell and taste. There are undoubtedly many as yet unknown functions of NO. This allows for an extensive opportunity to develop novel drugs for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of a multitude of cardiovascular and other disorders such as gastrointestinal ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease. About the lecture series The Sun Hung Kai Properties Nobel Laureates Distinguished Lectures, launched in 2004, are sponsored by Sun Hung Kai Properties. Co-organised by SHKP and CUHK, the lecture series having Nobel Laureates speak to a broad cross-section of the community aims to promote the discovery and the dissemination of knowledge, professional and entrepreneurial expertise and contributions to humanity. After this sixth installment of the lecture series, ten Nobel Laureates, as well as other renowned scholars, will have lectured in Hong Kong . The previous lectures all received overwhelming response from the community. |