The University of Tartu requests the honour of your presence at the inaugural lecture by Alireza Fazeli, UT Professor of Clinical Genomics and Personalized Medicine. The lecture entitled “The first language I spoke: a new era in intercellular communication” will
be held on 4 December 2018 at 16:15 in the University Assembly Hall. The lecture will also be accessible via UTTV: https://www.uttv.ee/esileht
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Language is a means of communication between two individuals. The importance of language is to transfer information from one individual to another in a way that results in a reaction by the recipient. In essence, languages take different forms; these may be words, signs, actions and signals.
We all think that the first language we spoke was our mother tongue. However, we are probably wrong. Even before we were able to communicate with words, we started to speak with our mothers using another unique language. A language that made our mothers accept, protect and nourish us as we came into this world.
In this lecture professor Fazeli will discuss the evidence for the existence of this first language as well as its potential components and structure. In addition, he will ask how learning this language will allow us to potentially diagnose diseases such as infertility, or to prevent cancerous cells from navigating around our body.
If one day we could remember the first language we spoke with our mother and what we said to her, we would be able to solve many of our current health problems in adulthood.
Alireza Fazeli works in the Department of Pathophysiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine at the University of Tartu and leads the Translational Genomics and Personalized Medicine project funded by the Horizon 2020 ERA Chair grant (www.transgeno.ut.ee). He studied veterinary medicine at the University of Tehran in Iran and was awarded his PhD at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 1996.
Professor Fazeli’s main research interests are intercellular communication, epigenetics and innate immunity. He has published over 250 scientific papers, of which 90 have appeared in multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journals. During his academic career, he has supervised more than 60 PhD and MSc students and research associates.
In addition to professional scientific journals, Alireza Fazeli has sought to disseminate his research in the public press and in different forms of media: from art objects exhibited in public art galleries to video clips on YouTube. His goal is to make science understandable for all and, in particular, to inspire and educate the younger generation to pursue a scientific career. Professor Fazeli hopes that his research makes a difference in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.
