In January 2007, Graham Warren was appointed Scientific Director of the Max F. Perutz Laboratories as well as head of the Centre for Molecular Biology of the University of Vienna. Before he came to Vienna, Warren worked at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, the Biochemistry Department in Dundee, the Cancer Research UK in London and the Medical School of Yale University, USA. The inauguration lecture of Graham Warren takes place on April 23rd, 2008 at 5 p.m. in the main building. |
theuniversity-online: Professor Warren, can you give us a brief history of your academic career to be followed by a short insight into your research themes?
Graham Warren: As a PhD student in Cambridge, I was trained as a kineticist, working on an enzyme involved in sugar metabolism. After Cambridge, as a post-doc in London, I became interested in another kind of enzyme, one that pumped calcium ions and that was involved in the contraction of muscles. When I moved to Heidelberg, I started to look at the biosynthesis of proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum, a membrane compartment that makes all the proteins that are secreted by cells. Then, in the late 1970's, I started to work on the Golgi Apparatus - a very productive research field that I still work in.
theuniversity-online: What exactly is the Golgi Apparatus and what is its 'role' in the cell?
Graham Warren: The Golgi Apparatus - named after the Italian scientist Camillo Golgi - is a membrane compartment that takes all the proteins made in the endoplasmic reticulum, adds many different types of sugars, then sorts and sends them to their final destination. A wide variety of proteins are made in this way, from sweat to digestive enzymes to insulin. In the 1980's, I concentrated my research on the pathway taken by these different proteins through the Golgi.
Later my research focus shifted to the biogenesis of the Golgi: How does the Golgi make another copy of itself? Every time a cell divides to duplicate itself it also has to duplicate the Golgi and make sure that the same numbers go into each daughter cell. This was a very interesting question because at that time - in the mid-1980's - no one had studied it. And that has been my main research field ever since.
theuniversity-online: At which stage is your research work up to now?
Graham Warren: The process of Golgi duplication is very complicated. That's why we started, at Yale, to look at simple organisms, because they often have one Golgi in each cell instead of the hundreds found in animal cells. The more you have the less you can observe. So what one always tries to do is to look for the simplest system. That is why my group and I decided to work with protozoan parasites, and we chose the one that causes African sleeping sickness. It's a very interesting and medically important parasite and it has only one Golgi. So far we have managed to watch the process of Golgi duplication using fluorescence microscopy. Here in Vienna we are going to look deeper into this process and try to identify all the proteins that make it happen. It's all about choosing the right system for the right question. Asking a testable question is key to doing good science.
theuniversity-online: What was the challenge to continue your work here in Vienna?
Graham Warren: Here in Vienna I was given the opportunity to hire the next generation of scientists. There is a need to hire outstanding young scientists and give them the freedom and resources to pursue their own line of research. I think that is most important.
I come from a system, in England and the US, where you get independence quite early on, certainly in England. I was 29 years old when I started my own group. I think it's important to give young people between 30 and 35 this chance. This is the time of life when you have a lot of energy, a lot of ideas. Good mentorship is essential for them and that is the job of the older scientists.
I think the Vienna Biocenter is certainly one of the top places in Europe, so it is the perfect place to support and help the next generation of young scientists.
theuniversity-online: In what way does the academic atmosphere here in Vienna differ from the UK or the USA?
Graham Warren: Here we have people who are very well educated, in many ways better than the American students and at least as well as Yale students. But the difference is that the students here do not challenge their professors.
In England and certainly in the USA we are used to young people challenging their professors. They have no fear of asking questions and that is much rarer here. I think this has got to change. As soon as it changes it means that you have the independence and confidence that is so important for scientists to pursue new directions.
I think a flattened hierarchy is the most productive structure, at least in the field of biological sciences. So I want to encourage PhD students to think more for themselves and to be more creative. (td)
The inauguration lecture of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Graham Warren, FRS, with the title "Why does one need a Golgi apparatus?" takes place on April 23rd, 2008 at 5 p.m. in the Minor Ceremonial Chamber in the main building of the University of Vienna. |
