BioTechMed-Graz Nobel Lecture

Nobel Lecture

The lecture series "BioTechMed-Graz Nobel Lecture" celebrates the outstanding contributions of Nobel laureates in the research fields of BioTechMed-Graz. Once a year, BioTechMed-Graz invites a Nobel laureate to give a lecture in Graz.

Nobel Lecture 2025

Date: Monday, December 1, 2025, 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Medical University of Graz, Lecture Hall 1
Lecturer: Frances H. Arnold, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018
“for the directed evolution of enzymes”

→ Registration possible in fall 2025

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 was divided, one half awarded to Frances H. Arnold "for the directed evolution of enzymes", the other half jointly to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter "for the phage display of peptides and antibodies".

Evolution – the adaption of species to different environments – has created an enormous diversity of life. Frances Arnold has used the same principles – genetic change and selection – to develop proteins that solve humankind’s chemical problems. In 1993, Arnold conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, which are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. The uses of her results include more environmentally friendly manufacturing of chemical substances, such as pharmaceuticals, and the production of renewable fuels.*

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Past Nobel Lectures

Nobel Laureate Prof. Ferenc Krausz at the Nobel Lecture 2024 at Graz University of Technology.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2023 was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter"

Nobel Laureate Prof. Edvard Moser at the Nobel Lecture 2023 at the University of Graz.

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared, with one half going jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser and the other half to John O'Keefe "for their discoveries of cells that form a localization system in the brain".

Nobel Laureate Prof. Bruce Beutler at the Nobel Lecture 2022 at the Medical University of Graz.

Prof. Bruce A. Beutler is an immunologist and geneticist and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2011 for his discoveries on the activation of innate immunity.

Nobel Laureate Prof. Stefan Hell at the Nobel Lecture 2019 at Graz University of Technology.

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Stefan W. Hell, Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner "for the development of high-resolution fluorescence microscopy".

Nobel Laureate Prof. Harald zur Hausen at the Nobel Lecture 2018 at the University of Graz.

The internationally recognized researcher has contributed to the development of a vaccine against the most common type of cancer in women, cervical cancer. In 2008, the German scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.