The North American professor and investigator of Azorean descent Craig C. Mello, joint winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Medicine, will visit the Azores between July 6 and July 12, at the invitation of the Regional President.

Professor of molecular medicine at the Medical School of the University of Massachusetts and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Craig Mello will give a lecture during a dinner that will be offered by the President of the Government on July 11, being the highlight of his visit to the Azores.

The investigator, who was distinguished with an Autonomic Commendation of Value in 2007, has roots on São Miguel Island, the native land of his great-grandfather, where he will visit the village of his ancestors, along with some of the main tourist sites on the island.

Born in 1960, Craig C. Mello is a graduate professor in biochemistry by the Brown University (1982) and in biology by the Harvard University. He also holds a doctorate degree by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle.

The 2006 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Craig Mello, as well as to Andrew Z. Fire, for the discovery of the fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information, which might help explain the origin of diseases, such as of some cancers.