The prestigious researcher and president of the Division of Biochemistry (Biozentrum) of the University of Basel (Switzerland), Michael N. Hall, candidate for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2016 for his work on the mTOR protein, a therapeutic target in cancer. Hall, candidate for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2016 for his work on the mTOR protein, a therapeutic target in cancer, gave the inaugural lecture of the Biomedicine course 'Model organisms in cancer research', entitled 'TO R signaling in growth and metabolism', in which he received the IBiS Distinguished Researcher Award, during the II UIMP-IBiS Schools of Biomedicine" on 19 December 2016.
Michael Hall, molecular biologist and professor at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel (Switzerland), is an international eminence and pioneer in the field of cell growth. In 1991, he discovered a protein that regulates growth, size and division in yeast cells. Since the function of this protein is inhibited by the drug rapamycin, Hall gave the name 'Target of Rapamyciny' (TOR) to this cell growth regulator. In doing so, he opened a door to understanding how these treatments work and a new dimension of cell control. For this discovery, he was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2014.
Michael N. Hall was a pioneer in finding the mechanism by which rapamycin and related drugs, essential in the treatment of cancer and immunosuppression of transplant patients, work. Professor Hall's work is a great example of how research in a model organism can lead to breakthroughs in human knowledge, which in turn lead to improvements in clinical practice.
