17:00
The Francis Crick Institute
October 29
The Francis Crick Institute
The more we collaborate the more we create.
Our PhD programme attracts the brightest scientific minds and is an opportunity for talented people to embark on their career in biomedical research.
Unlock the secrets hidden in our DNA and discover the extraordinary story of humanity.
We are a biomedical discovery institute researching the biology underlying human health.
The Crick magazine, Autumn 2026
George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science
Crick lectures are delivered by leading internationally-renowned scientists from the Francis Crick Institute and elsewhere and cover the full spectrum of biomedical research. They aim to be relatively accessible to scientists in all biomedical disciplines, whilst also offering something for the specialist.
The talks are open to scientists from other institutes and universities from across London and beyond. You should have a minimum of graduate-level biological knowledge to attend and fully engage with these talks. Find out how to attend here.
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For more information about Crick events and exhibitions for the general public please visit our What’s On pages.
The 2026 Honess Lecture is given by James Chen, who holds the George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science at UT Southwestern, Dallas.
The Robert Honess Lecture is a prestigious invited lecture honouring the life and legacy of Bob Honess, a highly regarded virologist whose pioneering research contributed significantly to our understanding of herpesvirus molecular biology, pathogenesis, and genome structure. Bob worked at the National Institute for Medical Research, one of the Crick's legacy institutes, before his untimely death in 1990.
This year's lecturer, James Chen, has made fundamentally important discoveries elucidating the process by which the human body fights off invasive viruses, bacteria, and other microbes. In 2012, his laboratory identified the DNA-sensing enzyme cGAS, which acts as a “burglar alarm” to trigger the body’s immune system when it detects a pathogen. Earlier, he identified the first mitochondrial protein known to be involved in immunity against infection, which he dubbed MAVS, describing its function (mitochondrial antiviral signalling) and at the same time honouring his favourite basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks.
James's research has been recognised with some of the most esteemed awards in science, including the Japan Prize (2026), the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (2024), the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2023), and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2019), among others.
James is a member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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