This year, MCB will host the annual John M. Prather Lectures in Biology, a series of three talks inspired by a bequest to Harvard by the 19th-century Harvard-trained zoologist and educator. We are pleased to announce that Feng Zhang will be the featured speaker, delivering lectures on April 2, 3, and 4, 2025. The April 2 lecture is open to the public.
Feng Zhang is a world leader and inventor of molecular tools that have fundamentally altered our ability to monitor and manipulate cells. These tools have been used to explore various biological processes, generate new therapeutic strategies for numerous diseases, and deliver therapeutic cargo.
Following undergraduate study at Harvard, Zhang obtained a PhD at Stanford. There, his pioneering studies of optical methods for manipulating neural activity launched the field of optogenetics. He then returned to Harvard as a Junior Fellow, and began inventing tools for engineering the genome, built on molecules such as TALENs and CRISPR. In 2011, he moved to MIT, where he is now Professor of Neuroscience and Bioengineering, Co-Director of the Yang-Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics, a Member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the Broad Institute, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Zhang has continued to invent new ways to modify and modulate the genome for basic and therapeutic purposes. He has co-founded several biotechnology companies that are bringing his inventions and those of his colleagues to the clinic.
Zhang’s work has earned him numerous honors, including the Tang, Gairdner, Perl/UNC, Waterman, and Lounsbery awards, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine.
Prather Lectures
Wednesday, April 2 at 5:30 pm – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Location: Science Center, Lecture Hall D
Title: Copy-Paste: An Exploration of Retrotransposons and Their Functions in Microbes and Man
Abstract:
Retrotransposons, a type of mobile DNA element, are molecular machines that create an RNA copy of their genetic information, reverse transcribe that RNA copy back into DNA, and then paste the DNA copy into the genome in a new location. Retrotransposons originated from retroviruses that integrated into the genome of an ancestral host. Although they could be considered “parasites,” retrotransposons have been co-opted by their hosts, which range from microbes to humans, for diverse functions. In this talk, Zhang will discuss some of these functions as well as how these systems can be engineered for use as molecular technologies.
Thursday, April 3 at Noon
Location: Northwest Building in room B 103
Title: Programmable Nucleic Acid Recognition
Abstract:
To read and write their genomes and transcriptomes, or those of their hosts, organisms rely on systems that can recognize specific nucleic acid patterns. Although some of these systems are hard-coded to recognize a single motif, there are some systems that can be programmed to recognize different sequences. These include modular proteins in which blocks of amino acid repeats are combined to recognize specific sequence motifs and RNA-guided systems in which a single protein (or complexes of proteins) interacts with the target sequence by varying the RNA guide. In this talk, Zhang will discuss the natural diversity of these systems and their development into biotechnologies for modifying and modulating the genome and transcriptome, as well as highlight how they are being used as therapeutics.
Friday, April 4 at Noon
Location: BioLabs Lecture Hall 1080
Title: Engineering Physiology
Abstract:
Cell state and identity are largely defined by combinations of transcription factors, and a number of studies have shown that exogenous expression of certain transcription factors can alter cell state and identity. The ability to modulate cell state would unlock new opportunities for engineering physiology, enabling cell replacement therapies and restoration of cellular homeostasis in disease and age. In this lecture, Zhang will describe his work mapping the effects of transcription factor expression on stem cell fate using a library of human transcription factor ORFs. In addition, he will describe a related approach to identify factors lost during immune-aging and his efforts to transiently restore these factors.
About John M Prather
John McClellan Prather (1864-1938) was a zoologist and educator who primarily taught science at the high school level. He was born in Felicity, Ohio, on Sept. 8, 1864, and earned an A.B. degree at Antioch College in Ohio in 1891. He then earned an A.B. at Harvard in 1894 and an A.M. at Harvard in 1896.
by Mary Sears, Harvard’s MCZ library
