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UC-Berkeley biochemist to lecture on realizing promise of research
Mark Reutter,
Business & Law Editor
217-333-0568; mreutter@uiuc.edu
3/28/2006
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —
Edward Penhoet, a biochemist and a former dean of the School of Public
Health at the University of California at Berkeley, will give the Arnold
O. Beckman Lecture in Science and Innovation April 4 (Tuesday) at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The free public talk will start at 4 p.m. in Room 1122 at the National
Center for Supercomputing Applications, 301 N. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.
His lecture, “Realizing the Promise of Research: Translation of
Technology Into Product,” will discuss how medical needs can be
met through the commercialization of public-sponsored research, with
an emphasis on stem-cell research.
Penhoet was a leader of the California Stem Cell Initiative, which led
to the 2004 passage of Proposition 71 establishing the California Institute
for Regenerative Medicine. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed
Penhoet vice chairman of the citizens group that oversees the institute’s
work.
A longtime biochemist at UC-Berkeley, Penhoet co-founded the Chiron
Corp. in 1981 with U. of I. alumnus William J. Rutter and became its
CEO. The firm commercialized many medical discoveries, including a process
by which human insulin is manufactured. He also organized Renovis, a
biopharmaceutical company that has developed drugs to treat neurological
diseases and disorders.
After leaving Chiron in 1998, he returned to UC-Berkeley to become dean
of the School of Public Health. He is the president of the Gordon and
Betty Moore Foundation.
