UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Thursday, 6 June 2013 at 11 a.m.
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR CATHERINE GODSON, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin on 6 June 2013, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa on Charles Nicholas Serhan
President, Honoured guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Charles Nicholas Serhan was born in Brooklyn and spent his childhood in suburban New York.
After graduating high school he majored in Biochemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Following his undergraduate degree he entered the Sackler Institute of Biomedical Science at New York University where he fell under the spell of the legendary Michael Heidelberger, one of the founders of quantitative immunology.
Under the mentorship of Heidelberger and Gerry Weissmann Charlie pursued his doctoral studies and made important discoveries. These discoveries have helped us understand the biological processes that underlie activation of the immune system and downstream inflammatory responses. His thesis work demonstrated the principle that different cell types of the immune system can speak to each other: acting in sequence to generate distinct signals. A process called transcellular biosynthesis.
But what are these signals?
Through painstaking PostDoctoral research work at The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm Charlie identified the chemical structure of these lipid signalling molecules and started to explore their biological significance. These investigations were carried out under the guidance of Bengt Samulesson who received the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1982 while Charlie was in his lab.
In the late 1980s Charlie returned to the US and joined the faculty of Harvard. He continued to investigate the structure and function of these molecules. His discovery that they act as natural anti -inflammatory agents in the body was intriguing.
For millennia it has been appreciated that to stay healthy and to resist infection we must be able to mount an inflammatory response or an ‘internal fire’ as the ancient Greeks described it. The work of Charlie and his collaborators has shown us is that it is also critical that we can ‘put out the fire’ and that the various anti inflammatory molecules that he has described restore balance by actively promoting the resolution of inflammation.
Over the last two decades Serhan’s group has been at the forefront of truly inspiring discoveries that have revealed several distinct classes of molecule that act to damp down inflammation.
These findings are especially relevant to disease as we have come to appreciate the role that inflammation plays in driving numerous prevalent and serious conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, cancer and heart disease.
Having elucidated the structure of these highly potent subtances and described their impact on various pathways and in models of disease the current focus of Charlie’s research is to use these molecules as templates to develop new therapeutics.
It is reasonable to propose that new drugs developed on this basis could be more effective and better tolerated as they are based on structures of natural mediators generated to extinguish the inflammatory fire.
Indeed, this research has also revealed to us that the body’s response to commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin includes the generation of these novel, anti inflammatory mediators.
Like all great scientists Charlie Serhan’s legacy is not restricted to his own discoveries. Even more important are his generous contributions to collaborators and colleagues, research fellows,Post docs and PhD students. Charlie has trained successive generations of scientists and physician scientists who have been inspired by him and have benefitted greatly from his support over the years. These even include a President of University College Dublin who was a fellow in his lab some twenty years ago.
Charlie gives generously of his time in support of research endeavours internationally. He sits on the Scientific Advisory boards of research institutes in the US, Canada and the UK. He is a founder of the biotech company Resolvyx. His wise counsel was greatly appreciated a decade ago when The Conway Institute was being established here at UCD.
Charlie Serhan has published over 450 papers in the elite scientific literature. He is an inventor or co-inventor on 350 patents. He is a Professor at Harvard University and at MIT and Director of The Centre for Experimental Therapeutics. Given his extraordinary achievements and contributions it will not come as a surprise to hear that Dr Serhan has received numerous honors and awards including a McArthur research award, Society of Leukocyte Biology award, Arthritis Foundation Award and several honorary degrees.
What may come as a surprise to hear is that Charlie is also an accomplished musician. In fact, on graduating high school he took the road less travelled playing as a drummer in the Chuck Bear Revue. However, after a gruelling year of touring, playing 12 performances a week, the lure of the lab and the thrill of scientific discovery took him along a different path…. With occasional distractions by the vibraphone.
I would argue that the music’s loss has been science’s gain!
It is an honour and pleasure to welcome Dr Charlie Serhan to UCD today.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoratus Scientiae; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.