Nobel laureate in chemistry delivers lecture on directed evolution of enzymes

Frances Arnold, 2018 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was presented the Tufts' Department of Chemistry's Max Tishler Award in the Pearson Chemical Laboratory on Thursday. Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology. She is the fifth woman and the first American woman to become a Nobel laureate in chemistry.

After a brief introduction by Arthur Utz, professor of chemistry and department chair, the award was presented by chemistry professor Krishna Kumar. Arnold delivered a lecture on her Nobel Prize-winning research regarding the directed evolution of enzymes to a packed lecture hall, with students, faculty and community members standing in the wings, before taking questions on her past work, accomplishments and future plans. The award presentation and lecture was followed by a reception in the Science and Engineering Complex, where lecture-goers were able to speak directly with Arnold.

In the award citation, Kumar provided context for Arnold’s research that brought her to the attention of the Tishler Award panel.

“She invented the field of what’s called directed evolution,” Kumar said. “[This] has lead to the creation of enzymes with greater stability and with the ability to catalyze reactions which are not in nature’s repertoire.”

Arnold then accepted the award before delivering a lecture on the work that won her the Nobel Prize. Her work began at the University of California, Berkeley, at the beginning of what she described as the DNA revolution. Arnold spoke about her fascination in the chemistry with the natural world, and her methods of using biological processes to produce man-made chemicals.

“Nature has discovered so much chemistry, but there’s more that’s been discovered by human beings,” she said.

Arnold also discussed many of the roadblocks she faced along the way, including disbelief from her colleagues.

“They’d say biology is really nice, but chemistry belongs to chemists,” she said.

Despite this, Arnold's research has already proven useful in simplifying a number of reactions once thought difficult and expanding a list of possible reactions using enzymes as catalysts. While implications of her research could prove useful in the production of biofuels and have expanded the applicability of enzymes to areas of chemistry where they had been irrelevant in the past, Arnold took digs at popular science publications that have taken her research out of context.

“None of them read the paper,” she said, before poking fun at headlines claiming science fiction-esque possibilities from her findings.

Utz told the Daily that the Tishler Award has been given out annually by the department since 2004. It is named after Tufts alumnus Max Tishler (A '28), an accomplished chemist who is often considered the father of the modern pharmaceutical industry. Kumar, who was chair of the chemistry department when the Tishler lecture series began, also said the award recipient is chosen by a panel of faculty members in the chemistry department based on their achievements in the field. Since the award’s inception, the school has seen a number of impressive speakers present on their cutting-edge research.

“Professor Arnold was the third Nobel Laureate to receive the [Tishler] Award,” Kumar said. “But this is the first instance we’ve invited a Nobel Laureate to speak before they received the prize.”

Utz credited the higher-than-expected turnout for the event to the recent announcement of the Nobel Committee.

“We anticipated after the announcement a few weeks ago that attendance would be up, so we hosted a livestream down the hall from the lecture, and had an online stream as well,” Utz said. “So I suspect we had even more people watching on their laptops at home.”

While the crowd was predominantly members of the Tufts community, there were also visiting delegations of students and professors from other Boston schools in attendance, including Boston University and Northeastern University, some of whom spoke in the question-and-answer period after the lecture.

According to Kumar, Arnold was chosen to receive the Tishler Award nearly six months before she was announced on Oct. 3 as one of this year's Nobel laureates in chemistry.

After the Nobel Committee’s announcement, Kumar said the chemistry department followed up with Arnold to see if she’d still have time to receive the Tishler Award and present on the Tufts campus before her Nobel lecture, which is scheduled for December.

“I was exchanging emails with her two days prior to the event,” he said. “But she kept the commitment, for which we’re very thankful.”

Both Kumar and Utz were exceptionally happy with the turnout at the award presentation and with the lecture itself.

“I think she presented in a way that was accessible to the entire audience,” Utz said at the reception. “Whether that be faculty members, graduate students, undergraduates and even non-scientists.”

Utz went on to express satisfaction at the wide variety of students in attendance and thought Arnold’s lecture was perfect for the occasion.

“The whole idea is bring in students from all across campus,” Utz said. “It’s a little bit of science and a great chance to learn something new.”