Provost Steve A. N. Goldstein writes:
It is with great pleasure that I invite you to participate in another significant moment in the history of this campus—the dedication of the Peter Gruber Chair in Neuroscience. Named chairs are an important way the University can recognize and sustain outstanding research, exceptional teaching, and visionary leadership. The dedication of the Gruber Chair is one such occasion, and we will gather to honor the first incumbent, Professor Michael Rosbash, our friend and remarkable colleague. Furthermore, we are most fortunate to be able to greet and thank the generous donor, Patricia Gruber of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, who will join us for these festivities. I do hope you will join us for this exciting afternoon.
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Photo Copyright © Stanley Rowin
Thursday, September 27, 2012, 3:30 p.m.
Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library
- Welcome from President Frederick M. Lawrence and Provost Steve A. N. Goldstein ’78
- Introduction of the Gruber Professor by Eve Marder, the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience and Head of the Division of Science
- Presentation by Michael Rosbash, the Peter Gruber Professor of Neuroscience, on Circadian Rhythms: Time Travels
- Remarks from Patricia Gruber, President of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
- Reception to follow
Michael Rosbash is the inaugural holder of the Peter Gruber Chair in Neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. A Professor of Biology, Professor Rosbash is also the Director of the National Center for Behavioral Genomics at Brandeis. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Rosbash and Professor of Biology Emeritus Jeffrey Hall collaborated closely for more than two decades at Brandeis. Combining their expertise in fly genetics and molecular biology, they cloned the Drosophila fruit fly period gene, a key regulator of circadian rhythms. The mechanism of the molecular clock that they then discovered later was found to be universal in the biological world. Through ongoing research, Professor Rosbash continues to advance our understanding of the importance of circadian rhythms to health and disease.
The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation honors and encourages educational excellence, social justice, and scientific achievements that better the human condition. The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation is a private, United States-based philanthropic organization established in 1993 under the 501(c)(3) section of U.S. Corporate Law. It is funded entirely by Peter and Patricia Gruber, who serve as its Chairman and President, respectively. A major focus of the Foundation’s philanthropy is its International Prize Program, created to recognize excellence in science and humanities by highlighting five fields that create a better world: Cosmology, Genetics, Neuroscience, Justice, and Women’s Rights. To support Cosmology, Genetics, and Neuroscience further, the Gruber Foundation has affiliated with preeminent science organizations to award fellowships to promising young scientists in those fields.
