CU Boulder NEXT is featuring two innovative members of the arts and sciences community next week

What do beer and cancer research have in common?

More than you might think, especially if you are attending CU Boulder NEXT in Denver next week (Jan. 31), where two members of the College of Arts and Sciences family—Nobel laureate Thomas Cech and Beer archaeologist Travis Rupp—are presenting on these topics as part of a series of BuffTalks.

Cech is a world-renowned chemist who received the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. He’s worked at CU Boulder since 1978 and is currently a distinguished professor of biochemistry and of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, as well as director of the BioFrontiers Institute.

At CU Boulder NEXT, Cech will discuss what it’s like for an undergraduate to learn from and work in the lab of a Nobel prize winner.

Rupp, on the other hand, is a full-time brewer in Special Projects at Avery Brewing and an adjunct lecturer in classics at CU Boulder who studies beer archaeology.

One thing that was always clear in Rupp’s research is that beer production and consumption have long been a staple to diets and nutrition across the ancient world, including to the Founding Fathers of the United States. Rupp is now learning how by reproducing some signature drinks by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and he’s going to tell the story of those drinks.

CU Boulder NEXT will also feature interactive exhibits, alumni-produced beer and wine, networking opportunities and a special showing of the acclaimed CU short film The Light Shines On.

Experience What’s Next for CU Boulder in Denver:

Date: Thursday, Jan. 31
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place, Denver CO 80202
Cost: $25 per person (includes CU alumni crafted beer and wine paired with unusual food offerings), however students with a valid ID and children are free.

Can’t make it? CU Boulder NEXT will also visit San Francisco yet this spring, and New York, Houston, Chicago and Boulder at future dates.

To learn more about CU Boulder NEXT, including to register for the event, refer to the CU Boulder NEXT website.