Fargo, N.D. – The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at NDSU has invited Nobel laureate Dr. Ferid Murad to deliver a research lecture titled “Discovery of Nitric Oxide and Cyclic GMP in Cell Signaling and Their Role in Drug Development” on Thursday, April 12, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Memorial Union Century Theater. The seminar is open to all persons interested in pharmaceutical and biomedical research.
In 1998, Murad received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of the role of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system. The discovery not only contributed to a better understanding of how information is transmitted between cells, but also had a significant influence on cardiovascular medicine, leading to changes in treatment following a heart attack. His research and findings on the effect of nitric oxide continue to influence the treatment of cancer, arthritis and other human diseases.
Murad is a professor at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. He was previously at the University of Texas at Houston as director emeritus of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Center for Cell Signaling, Regent Professor and John S. Dunn Sr. Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine, and director of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Program in Intracellular Signaling. He was on the faculty of Northwestern University and the University of Virginia, where he was director of the Clinical Research Center and director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology. He was chief of medicine at the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, chairman of medicine at Stanford University and vice president of research and development at Abbott Laboratories.
Murad is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and its Institute of Medicine, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science Technology. He earned his bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and doctor of medicine and doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. He completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. He has received numerous awards and honors in addition to the Nobel Prize, including the Albert and Mary Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, American Heart Association Ciba Award and Baxter Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences from the Association of American Medical Colleges. He has received honorary doctorates from 13 universities.
The event is sponsored by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Student Chapter, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Center of Biopharmaceutical Research and Production, Center for Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Protease Research and Office of the Provost.
NDSU is a top-ranked research institution that combines teaching and research in a rich learning environment.