Posted on March 16: Biologist presents molecular view of large-scale evolution

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Norman_Pace2.jpg” caption=”Norman Pace”]The origin and large-scale evolution of life will be given a molecular look at the final lecture in McMaster's Origins Public Lecture Series.

University of Colorado biologist Norman Pace will present the fifth in a series of five presentations on origins research. His lecture, A Molecular View of the Origin and Large Scale Evolution of Life, on Thursday, March 18 at 8 p.m. in Chester New Hall, Rm. 104, will review the current understanding of the molecular “tree of life”.

Pace is a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Colorado. He is also a member of the National Academic of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has won numerous awards, including the United States highest award in microbiology, the Selman A. Waksman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Microbiology, from the National Academy of Sciences.

Origins is a proposed institute to be based in the Faculty of Science. The scientific focus of Origins is to create and foster multidisciplinary research on origins themes across a spectrum of interrelated research fields. The series is designed to bring world class researchers to McMaster to give free public talks in areas of fundamental scientific research and broad public interest.

Other lectures in the series featured Sir Martin Rees on Life in Our Universe and Others, Stuart Kauffman on Molecular Autonomous Agents – a Possible Physical Definition of Life, James Ferris on From the Big Bang to the Origins of Life – an Approach to the Formation of the RNA World and Alan Boss on Looking for Earths – The Race to Find New Solar Systems.