Tuesday, October 21, 1997
Boyer returns to UCLA with Nobel Prize
CELEBRATION Professor lauded for extensive chemical research on
ATP functions, mentorship
By Hannah Miller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Although he is a molecular biologist, Nobel Prize winner Paul
Boyer was welcomed back to UCLA on Monday like a rock star.
A crowd of admirers choked the pathway between the Molecular
Biology Institute (MBI) and the Bombshelter. Florist deliverymen
milled about, trying to figure out which lab to place the roses in.
And budding scientists crowded around Boyer – hoping he’d autograph
their lab coats.
"I’m beginning to feel like Princess Diana," said Boyer. "This
is the first time I’ve ever had flowers sent to me."
Boyer won the 1997 Nobel Prize in chemistry last week for his
discoveries detailing the synthase of adenosine triphosphate (ATP),
a fundamental life process that supplies energy to all cells in the
body. For Boyer, 79, it was the culmination of a research career
spanning 50 years – 34 years of which were spent researching
ATP.
So his homecoming on Monday afternoon, to the MBI that he
founded 32 years ago, was met with champagne and a long line of
admirers.
As Boyer emerged from the MBI, he was met with cries of "There
he is!" Boyer and his wife, Lyda Boyer, took their seats at a
sunflower-draped table while department heads took the mike to sing
his praises.
"We are gathered here to celebrate what we have known all along
– the brilliance of Paul Boyer – now recognized by the Swedish
Royal Academy," said Arnold Berk, the current MBI director.
Berk went on to wax poetic about Boyer’s research, "for those of
you who are not in scientific fields.
"I’ll tell you how I picture Dr. Boyer’s research," Berk said.
"I like to think that the mitochondrial membrane must look like the
Mojave Desert, with the ATP synthase mechanisms sticking up like
all those windmills," he continued.
"Dr. Boyer was the first to find out how those windmills turn,"
Berk said. "He has discovered how basic energy, of protons flowing
into the mitochondria, is converted into energy the body can
use."
His colleagues also lavished praise on Paul Boyer, the man.
"The universal reaction I heard," said Emil Reisler, "was that
this couldn’t have happened to a nicer man. Paul Boyer represents
mentorship, academic leadership and human values at their
best."
All this seemed to bounce off the recipient himself, who finally
took the stand to mention his "tendency to be lucky."
He responded with humor to the five litanies of praise that
preceded his appearance.
"After all I have heard about this chap," Boyer said, "I can’t
wait to meet myself."
"I could talk about ATP for a long, long time," he said to the
crowd. "I’m just glad that we finally devised some physical and
chemical methods to get at it."
He reflected a little bit on his experience with Nobel
madness.
"At this point, I’m not really a Nobel laureate. That doesn’t
happen until Dec. 10, when the king of Sweden hangs the medal
around my neck," he said.
"By then, hopefully nobody will have found out that my work was
wrong," Boyer joked.
Also in the audience was Boyer’s grandson, Imran Clark, a
graduate student at the MBI who has suddenly found himself a little
more in the spotlight.
"Uh-oh. Now everyone’s going to be watching me," joked Clark.
"I’m giving a talk next week, and I’ll probably have to beef up my
slides."
Clark’s research centers on the protein centractin, which is
responsible for directed movement within the cell. Clark says that
he got into molecular biology "completely by accident."
Originally, Clark had intended to go into engineering but
stumbled on life science during his last year of undergraduate
work.
"But maybe my grandfather had a subtle influence," Clark said.
"For Christmas, he’d always give me, say, an encyclopedia on
natural history."
The crowd assembled on Monday represented all aspects of the
research factory that is UCLA. And of course, the aspiring
scientists came to stargaze.
"My first-year here, I received a Paul Boyer fellowship," said
MBI graduate student Yuhong Shen, as she watched from the crowd. "I
went around asking who this Paul Boyer guy was, and everyone talked
about him with so much respect. His work is just a fundamental
discovery."
"As scientists, we always talk about role models," Shen said. "I
am very inspired."
AELIA KHAN
Noted professor and winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Paul
Boyer signs lab coats as his wife Lyda Boyer looks on.
AELIA KHAN
Paul Boyer and his wife Lyda Boyer walk to the reception held in
front of the Molecular Biology Institute.