On behalf of Prof. Rajalingam, please see following information:

Dear students and members of the postdoc community,

We would like to cordially invite you to take part in an informal "interaction session" with this year's Gutenberg Research Awardee, Dr. Vishva Dixit, Vice President at Genentech, SF, CA, USA (www.gene.com/scientists/our-scientists/vishva-dixit).

The session will take place on May 2nd 2016 between 3:30 to 4:30 PM in the Lecture Hall of Building 708, University Medical Center Mainz.

We believe that this is a great chance for our young scholars to interact informally with a distinguished scholar and one of the leaders in the field of biomedical research. Some of you might know that he has made truly important contributions from biochemistry to cell biology to immunology to biomedicine. Further, he is also responsible for running an active postdoctoral program at Genentech (http://www.gene.com/careers/academic-programs/postdocs) and has been mentoring numerous scientists, of whom many now are highly successful scientists around the world. 

Here are some of the highlights about Vishva which might help you to learn about his works and to prepare your questions!

For his publications please follow this link (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=dixit+vm) and I have listed some key highlights as far as I know

• In the early 1990s his lab identified many members of  signaling pathway leading to apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death. Many of his papers  are “Citation Classics” earning 1000s of citations according to Thompson Reuters
• The Dixit laboratory discovered that the death domain-containing adaptor, MyD88, is crucial for the engagement of the NF-kkappaB pathway by the IL-1 receptor.  This classic discovery is highlighted  in the “pillars of immunology” feature in The Journal of Immunology (2013, 190:3-4)
• They discovered Paracaspases and Metacaspases, which are two ancient families of caspase-related proteins, one of which plays a central role in MALT lymphoma 
• Identification of components of the inflammasome pathway.  Many of the discoveries here (like Ipaf, cryopyrin, non canonical inflammsome)  are rated as "hot papers" by "The Scientist"
• Ubiquitin modification in inflammation - They discovered A20 , a key molecule in TNF-induced NfkB signaling in 1990
• His lab was the first to demonstrate that Deubiuitinating enzymes are druggable in treating malignant cancer- and indeed much more

Please find some write ups on him under:

Nature 

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080514/full/453271a.html

And the famous turning point essay describing the discovery of caspases

http://www.nature.com/ncb/journal/v12/n5/full/ncb0510-415.html

And the most recent Trends interview 

http://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/abstract/S0165-6147%2813%2900178-8

I think I have convinced you to quickly register and make use of this opportunity to interact and learn from this highly accomplished scholar – when many others may not have a chance to meet or talk to him in big meetings! I want you, the “next-gen,” to gain inspiration from this role model and, yes, prepare your questions, ask him how he made it, what drives his days, and what his future aims are. What was his EUREKA moment in the spring of 1994 in Ann Arbour when they made the key experiment? If you are too shy of spontaneously asking questions in front of the crowd, please write down the question and read it - no problem! We arrange this with an aim to educate, inspire, and motivate you, the NEXT VISHVA!! If you want to participate, please write a short email until this Friday, 29th of April to Dr. Inga Melzer ( inmelzer@uni-mainz.de)

If you have time, you can also consider attending his award lecture at 6 pm on the same day (http://www.gfk.uni-mainz.de/Dateien/GRC_invitation_annual_celebration_2016.pdf) on the University Campus.

Krishna