Preliminary Program

Day 1

08:00 - 09:00 Registration

09:00 - 09:10 Opening remarks

Bengt Nordén, Founding Patron, Molecular Frontiers Foundation, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden
Zhang Shuguang, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, USA

Chair: Bengt Nordén

09:10 - 09:50 Sir Greg Winter, University of Cambridge, UK: Harnessing Evolution to Make New Medicines

09:50 - 10:30 Sir Alan Fersht, University of Cambridge, UK: Protein Engineering of anti-tumour p53 complexes

10:30-10:50 Tea Break

10:50 - 11:30 Bai Chunli, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing (To be confirmed): Recent Advances of Science in China

11:30 - 12:10 Feng Zhang, MIT and Broad Institute, Cambridge, USA: Exploration of Microbial Diversity for Genome Editing and Beyond

12:10-13:30 Lunch

Chair: Magdalena Eriksson

13:30 - 14:10 Jens Nielsen, BioInnovation Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark: Metabolic Engineering 

14:10 - 14:50 Philip Ball, Science author, London, UK: Curiosity and Patterns in Nature

14:50 - 15:30 Reiko Kuroda, Chubu University, Japan: Snail Coiling: CRISPR Editing of A Single Gene Turns Righties Into Lefties

15:30 - 15:50 Tea Break
 
15:50 - 16:30 Yang Huanming, BGI and Chinese Academy of Sciences: What Can We Learn from A Million Human Genomes?

16:30 - 17:10 [Speaker to be announced]

17:10-18:10 Panel Discussions and Questions from Students

Day 2

08:00-09:00 Registration

09:00-09:10 Remarks

Karin Markides, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Lorie Karnath, Chair of Strategic Board, Molecular Frontiers Foundation
Zhang Bowen, Science-Link Tech Co, Zenmindes Ltd 

Chair: Karin Markides

09:10 - 09:50 Ada Yonath, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel: Molecular Basis of Antibiotic Actions on Ribosomes

09:50 - 10:30 David Julius, University of California, San Francisco: The Amazing Neuron Sensory Systems for Navigation

10:30 - 10:50 Break

10:50 - 11:30 William DeGrado, University of California, San Francisco: De Novo Protein Design

11:30 - 12:10 Li-Huei Tsai, MIT and Picower Institute: Leveraging Brain Rhythms as A Therapeutic Intervention for Neurodegenerative Disease

12:10 - 13:30 Lunch

Chair: Shuguang Zhang

13:30 - 14:10 Saul Griffith, Otherlab, San Francisco, California: Design Remarkable Materials and Devices for Clean Energy  

14:10-14:50 Josiah “Jody” Rich, Brown University, USA: Opioid Crisis and How to Overcome It 

14:50-15:30 Fu Xiaobing, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Beijing: Wound Healing Using New Materials

15:30 - 15:50 Break

15:50 - 16:30 Zhao Bowen, Quantihealth, Beijing: Human Microbiome: Our Second Genome

16:30- 17:10 [Speaker to be announced]

17:10 - 18:10 Panel Discussions and Questions from Students 

Day 3 

8:00-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:10 Remarks

Magdalena Eriksson, CEO, Molecular Frontiers Foundation
Per Thorén, COO, Molecular Frontiers Foundation 

Chair: Lorie Karnath

9:10 - 09:50 Joi Ito, Keio University: Biotech for Climate Change 

9:50 - 10:30 Robert Langer, MIT: Recent Excitement in Designer Materials and Sustained Release

10:30 - 10:50 Break

10:50 - 11:30 Luo Zhongli, Chongqing Medical University, China: Chiral Self-assembling Peptide for Accelerated Wound Healing

11:30-12:10 Deborah Donnelly, UPS Pilot, USA: Flying High: How Curiosity Can Lead You to Your Dream Jobs?

12:10 - 13:30 Lunch

Chair: Zhang Bowen 

13:30 - 14:10 Bengt Nordén, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden: Hydrophobic Catalysis – does it exist and is it then the main player in biology? 

14:10-14:50 Andreas Mershin, MIT Center for Bits and Atoms: Asking Questions Are More Important Than Answers

14:50-15:30 Zhang Shuguang, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, USA: The QTY Code, Always Ask Unusual Questions

15:30 - 16:00 Break

16:00 - 17:00 Andreas Mershin, MIT and Liz Ball, Athens, Greece & Chair, Education Board, Molecular Frontiers Foundation:

Announcement of 2020 winners of Molecular Frontiers Inquiry Prizes

17:00 - 18:00 Panel Discussions and Questions from Students

Symposium Adjourn

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