2024-07-16
28 分钟In recent decades, we've taken huge steps forward in treating formerly fatal viruses: with pharmacological breakthroughs revolutionising treatment for conditions such as HIV, hepatitis and herpes. Raymond Schinazi has played a big role in that revolution. Ray was born in Egypt, where his mother’s brush with a potentially deadly illness during his childhood inspired a fascination with medicine. His childhood was scattered: after his family were forced to leave their homeland and travelled to Italy as refugees, Ray ended up on a scholarship to a British boarding school - and subsequently went on to study and flourish in the world of chemistry and biology. Today, Ray is the Director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he also set up the renowned Center for AIDS Research. His work in the early days of HIV studies led to drugs that many with the virus still take today; while his contribution to developing a cure for Hepatitis C has saved millions of lives around the world. Speaking to Jim Al-Khalili, Ray reflects on his route to success - and explains why he's confident that more big breakthroughs are on the horizon. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor
BBC Sounds Music Radio podcasts Hello, and welcome to the podcast edition of the Life Scientific.
I'm Jamal Khalili, and this is the show where I get to talk with some of the world's leading scientists and you get to find out what drives them.
So sit back, get comfortable, and enjoy the episode.
Imagine, if you will, the basic building blocks of medicine, substances broken down to a molecular level, where, if you find the right recipe, particles will snap together in wondrous new forms, creating something that could.
That's the chemical playground inhabited by today's guest whose work in biomedical sciences has revolutionized treatments for viruses from hepatitis to hiv.
Raymond Shenazi was born in Egypt, where his mother's brush with a potentially fatal illness during his childhood inspired an early fascination with medicine.
Today he's a professor of pediatrics and director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Indeed, it was Ray who first set up the university's now renowned Centre for AIDS Research, where work is currently underway to develop an HIV vaccine.
Ray's work in the early days of HIV studies led to the creation of drugs that the majority of people with the virus still take today.
While his contribution to developing a cure for hepatitis C has saved millions of lives around the world, these medical milestones have earned Ray various awards, including France's highest civilian honor, the Legion d'honneur.
But he remains pragmatic about these accolades, saying, we've made beautiful molecules that have saved millions of lives and really, that's what's important.
Raymond Chinazi, welcome to the Life Scientific.
Thank you so much.
Now, what is it about manipulating molecules and creating new compounds that you find so fascinating?
Well, you're basically the creator of something new, completely new, that nobody's ever made before.
You make these molecules and you hope that they will target the enzyme that you're targeting selectively.
And that's what is fascinating to me, to be able to change a course of an enzyme.
And if you can do that selectively, then you can have an antiviral agent.
And obviously there's a whole world of diseases out there.
What's the particular appeal, if I can use that word, of viruses?