Warren Tate - a personal research history

Emeritus Professor Warren Tate has been at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago nearly continuously since 1968. He recently gave a talk about his research history at the Department's weekly seminar.
The Central Dogma: Inspiring 57 years of study on DNA, RNA and protein
Emeritus Professor Warren Tate FRSNZ CNZM
Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Special Seminar - 28 August 2024
Having briefly encountered the dawning of molecular biology through exposure to the central dogma as an honours student at Victoria University, I was inspired to explore more about it. The central dogma became the underpinning ethos for my research career aimed at understanding the deep relationships between DNA, RNA and protein. This exit seminar spanning 57 years in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago will be an oral history of how I came to this department, what influenced the important decisions along the way, the disappointments, and the highlights that led to new discoveries and insights into the translation of the DNA code into protein. As I now move to the Pathology Department to work further on the DNA methylome, for what is surely the last phase of my research journey, I will still be haunted by the central dogma. The oral history of my more recent work, encompassing the transition from ‘discovery’ to ‘applications to poorly understood human diseases’ will await another day.