UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal leads the discussion. Photo by TJ Ushing

DAVIS, CA (MPG) – It’s not often that a Nobel laureate visits a UC Davis undergraduate classroom, but this year, a biochemistry class in Kleiber Hall struck “gold” – twice.

Not one, but two Nobel laureates chronicled their scientific careers and answered questions during their virtual visits to UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal’s winter quarter class, “Structure and Function of Biomolecules.”

Nobel laureates Charles Rice of Rockefeller University, a UC Davis alumnus and Randy Schekman of UC Berkeley separately visited Leal's classroom within a three-week period. Each received the Nobel Prize in the category Physiology or Medicine: Rice in 2020, and Schekman in 2013. In addition to global recognition, the prize includes a gold medal and cash.

The “golden” opportunities stunned the 220 students, who are primarily in pre-health majors. They described the “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences as both “inspirational and motivational.”

“The Nobel laureate visits provided students with opportunities they never imagined when enrolling in an undergraduate class,” said Leal, who invited his fellow members of the National Academy of Sciences to speak. 

“Every winter quarter since I transferred from the entomology department to the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, I carry on a tradition inspired by the late entomology professors Charles Judson and Bruce Hammock when I was co-teaching with them. I would invite leading scientists in their field to our classrooms for short interviews with our students. We did that before the Zoom era. Now we can have virtual visits.” 

Leal, recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award from the UC Davis Academic Senate, said of his students: “I seek to unlock their imagination and potential.”

Biochemistry student Sreeya Pasumarthy asks a question during the UC Davis virtual visit of Randy Schekman Photo by TJ Ushing

Students filled out an anonymous evaluation form following the virtual visits.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to hear from two Nobel Laureates,” wrote one student. “It was truly an honor. I have told many of my family members and friends.”  

Rice, a virologist who shared the Nobel with colleagues Harvey Alter and Michael Houghton for their contributions to the discovery and characterization of the hepatitis C virus, was born in Sacramento in 1952. After receiving his UC Davis degree, he took a “gap year,” traveling internationally before enrolling in the California Institute of Technology. 

In his presentation, Rice encouraged UC Davis students to seek research opportunities on campus as part of their undergraduate experience and to “find what you love and do whatever you can to make your dreams into a reality.” 

 “I enjoyed Dr. Charles Rice’s visit,” a student wrote. “He was very funny and humble and knowing that someone had little direction but became a Nobel laureate makes me more confident in my abilities to make a change.” 

Many of the students later attended the Chancellor’s Colloquium, at which Chancellor Gary May addressed the topic that “scientific progress is best achieved through publicly funded research initiatives.”

Cell biologist Randy Schekman, born in 1948 in St. Paul, MN, but who moved to southern California in the late 1950s, received his doctorate in biochemistry from Stanford University. He shared the Nobel Prize with James Rothman and Thomas Rothman Sudhof for their groundbreaking research on cell membrane vesicle trafficking. They discovered the genetic and molecular machinery that regulates vesicle transport – the “shipping system” of cells. 

Nobel laureate Randy Schekman addresses the UC Davis biochemistry class in a virtual visit. Photo by TJ Ushing

In his virtual visit, Schekman commented on how science and politics are intertwined, and why government research funding is crucial.

 “Dr. Randy Schekman’s visit definitely spoke to me deeply as a student interested in science and politics,” wrote one student. "The two fields are so deeply intertwined at this point in history that you cannot care about one and not the other.” 

“Overall,” Leal said, “hearing about the Nobel laureates’ struggles, failures, and persistence reassured students about their own challenges. These were highly valuable educational experiences, deeply inspirational and motivating, and events they will remember forever.”