Dr. Bruce Beutler, one of the two recipients of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, visited NTU on February 9 to deliver a lecture, visit our research facilities, and meet with NTU counterpartsandtop officials of the university.

The renowned immunologist and geneticist captivated the NTU audience with his lecture "How Endogenous Retroviruses Have Become an Integral Component of the Host Immune Response."Hosted by NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang, the lecture attracted an enthusiastic and engaged crowd of more than 160 people. In response to the great demand, the Computer and Information Networking Center provided a live internet broadcast of the event. Following the lecture, Dr. Beutler remained the center of attention as he joined in conversation with senior professors and research faculty members to take questions from students seeking his views and advice.

While on campus, Dr. Beutler also attended a luncheon with President Yang, Executive Vice President for Academics and Research Liang-Gee Chen, Dean of the College of Medicine Shan-Chwen Chang, Deputy Vice President for International Affairs Jiun-HueiProty Wu, as well as Prof. Hsin-Yu Lee, director of the Center for Biotechnology and the College of Life Science's Center for International Academic Exchange.

Dr. Beutler later toured the Technology Commons and Center for Biotechnology at the College of Life Science tohold discussions with the biotechnology researchers. Later, he went to the College of Medicine where he visited the Museum of Medical Humanities andthe Center of Genomic Medicine, and held meetings with the medical research faculty members.

A brief of Dr. Beutler's lecture is as follows:

While the antibody response to type 2 T cell-independent (TI-2) antigens is important for antimicrobial defense, the mechanism whereby TI-2 antigens activate B cells in the absence of T cell help remains poorly understood. Dr. Beutler'sresearch reveals that the cross-linking of the B cell receptors by TI-2 antigens activates a signaling cascade that leads to the transcription of endogenous retroviral DNA. The resulting viral RNAs are directly detected by the RNA sensor pathway or reverse transcribed into DNA that triggers DNA sensor pathways that in turn induce the activation of B cells to produce specific antibodies. Dr. Beutler's findings suggest a possible connection between endogenous retroviruses and autoimmunity and cancer.