1. K-State home >
2. College of Veterinary Medicine >
3. Anatomy & Physiology >
4. Clarenburg Lecture Series

The Rudy Clarenburg Lecture Series was established in 1996 to honor the late Rudolf Clarenburg, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. The Lecture Series brings nationally and internationally acclaimed scientists to Kansas State University to discuss their research interests with students and faculty throughout the University.

Dr. Rudolf Clarenburg joined the Department of Anatomy and Physiology in October, 1966. He received his Doctor of Sciences in 1965 from Netherlands State University, Utrecht, Holland. Dr. Clarenburg was a Research Assistant/Associate in the Department of Physiology, University of California, Berkeley from 1959 to 1966. At K-State he taught courses in physiological chemistry, intermediary metabolism and veterinary physiology. In 1983 Dr. Clarenburg received the Norden Distinguished Teacher award “for distinguished teaching in the field of veterinary medicine.”

The Dr. Rudolf Clarenburg Lectureship is made possible by the generous support received from Mrs. Margalith Clarenburg and her family. Mrs. Clarenburg passed away on April 10, 2002, following a long battle with cancer. She is deeply missed by her family and friends, but her legacy and support for the Clarenburg Lecture Series will continue for many years to come.

The current lecture series features:

Peter C. Agre, M.D.
2003 Nobel Laureate
Duke University

The Clarenburg Distinguished Lecture and The Provost's Lecture on Excellence in Scholarship" was presented Monday, October 8th, 2007.

Dr. Peter Agre, Nobel Laureate
"Aquaporin Water Channels: From Atomic Structure to Clinical Medicine"

Dr. Peter Agre received his medical doctorate from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1974. Dr. Agre’s postgraduate training included a residency in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University and a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  In 1981, he returned to Johns Hopkins, where in 1993 he advanced to professor of biological chemistry. In 2000 Dr. Agre was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.

In 2003, Dr. Agre shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing the molecular basis for the movement of water into and out of cells.  His 1992 paper in the journal Science, with Johns Hopkins physiologist Bill Guggino, Ph.D., documented the discovery of the first water-channel protein – called an aquaporin – which facilitates the movement of water molecules into and out of cells through the cell membrane. Since then, Agre and his colleagues have found aquaporins to be part of the blood-brain barrier and also associated with water transport in skeletal muscle, lung and kidney. Researchers worldwide now study aquaporins, and have linked aberrant water transport to many human disorders.

Currently, Dr. Agre serves as vice chancellor for science and technology at Duke University Medical Center.