RICHARDSON, Texas (Nov. 26, 2002) - "Addressing the Threat of Anthrax" will be the subject of a lecture by Harvard Medical School Professor R. John Collier, Ph.D., on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).

    The presentation, as well as a second talk the following day, is the 13th annual Royston C. Clowes Memorial Lecture, a series that honors the late former head of the Molecular and Cell Biology program at UTD. The university's Biology Graduate Student Organization established the lecture series in 1990 to honor Dr. Clowes' contributions to UTD and the field of recombinant DNA technology.

    Both lectures are free and open to the public. The Dec. 3 event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Conference Center on the UTD campus. On Dec. 4, Collier will conduct a research seminar entitled "Membrane Translocation by Bacterial Toxins" at 2 p.m. in the same venue.

    Collier is a Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

    The anthrax bacillus has played a major role in the history of microbiology, being the first microbe shown definitively to cause an infectious disease and now the first in modern times to have been used in a successful bioterrorist attack. Collier's lecture will trace the progression of knowledge about anthrax, focusing on the molecular factors produced by the bacillus that make it deadly.

    The lecture will conclude with a discussion of the challenges the nation faces in developing new treatments against bioterrorism-related microbes.

    For additional information about Collier's appearance at UTD, please contact Paul Chin in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at 972-883-4105.

About UTD

    The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 13,000 students. The school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university's Web site at www.utdallas.edu.