Robert Roeder, head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University, delivered the 2020 George H. Boyd Distinguished Lecture on Jan. 10.  Titled “Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms in Animal Cells,” Roeder’s lecture aimed at shedding light on how the transcription of the human genome’s approximately 25,000 genes is regulated in a gene- and cell type-specific manner. Roeder (shown above with Vice President for Research David Lee) has studied and lectured on these transcription factors for more than five decades. His numerous accolades for his research include election to the National Academy of Sciences, the Eli Lilly Award of the American Chemical Society, the NAS-U.S. Steel Award in Molecular Biology and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, to name a few.