S1E10 Dr. Randy Schekman: Making Fundamental Discoveries in Science and Medicine

Dr. Randy Schekman is a Nobel Laureate and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Schekman's discoveries on the mechanisms by which proteins are trafficked to different parts of the cell are in every cell and molecular biology textbook and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013, which he shared withJames Rothman and Thomas Südhof. Beyond his laboratory research, he has been passionate about access to scientific research —serving as Editor-in-Chief of PNAS and founding editor of eLife, helping to redefine peer review and scientific publishing. In this episode Dr. Schekman discusses the fundamental discoveries in his lab that have shaped our understanding of how cells work, the importance of making research openly and freely available, and recent insights from Parkinson's Disease research on how risk mutations can lead to the death of neurons and disease progression.