Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006 goes to two Americans

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006 has jointly gone to 47 year old Audrew Z. Fire, professor of Stanford University and 46 year old Craig C. Mello, professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Secretary of Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, Hans Jornvall made the announcement Monday at a press conference at Karolinska Institute. He explained that the two scientists are awarded for their discovery of RNA interference- gene silencing by double-stranded RNA.

The American scientists published their discovery of a mechanism that can degrade mRNA from a specific gene in the journal Nature on February 19, 1998. This mechanism, RNA interference is activated when RNA molecules occur as double-stranded pairs in the cell. Double stranded RNA activates biochemical machinery which degrades those mRNA molecules that carry a genetic code identical to that of the double-stranded RNA. When such mRNA molecules disappear, the corresponding gene is silenced and no protein of the encoded type is made.

This RNA interference occurs in plants, animals and humans. It is of great importance for the regulation of gene expression, participates in defense against viral infections and keeps jumping genes under control.

The genetic code in DNA determines how proteins are built. The instructions contained in the DNA are copied to mRNA and subsequently used to synthesize proteins.

RNA interference is important in the defense against viruses, particularly in lower organisms.

It will be helpful for research and clinical trial in lung infection in children, HIV and cardiovascular problems.

Hans Jornvall said RNA interference opens up exciting opportunities for use in gene technology. Double-stranded RNA molecules have been designed to activate the silencing of specific genes in humans, animals or plants. Such silencing RNA molecules are introduced into the cell and activate the RNA interference machinery to break down mRNA with an identical code.

This method has already become an important research tool in biology and biomedicine. In the future, it is hoped that it will be used in many disciplines including clinical medicine and agriculture. Plans are underway to develop silencing RNA as a treatment for virus infections, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, endocrine disorders and several other conditions.

As usual, the Nobel assembly called the two scientists and told them the result just one hour before the announcement at the press conference in Stockholm.

Andrew Z. Fire got his PhD in Biology in 1983 in Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is now Professor of Pathology and Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Craig Mello got his PhD in Biology in 1990 at Harvard University and is now Professor of Molecular Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School.

In an interview with People's Daily Online, Professor Bjorn Vennstrom, one of the Nobel Committee members said Nobel Prize is to encourage people to challenge the status quo in the basic scientific research areas and have great enthusiasm and interest in doing the researching work no matter it brings short-term benefit or not. It usually takes a long time to see if a discovery is important or not and whether it contributes a lot to the development of sciences.

Being asked how far China is away from the Nobel Prize, Vennstrom said China needs to have a better atmosphere for research.

"It is not that you design or plan to have a Nobel Prize and then you do the research, it is that you have to do the research freely without any mandate. It is the great enthusiasm and creativity for the sake of science and discovery that are encouraged."

Bertil Fredholm, also from the Nobel Prize Committee said China is making great efforts in investing in scientific research. But it will take 10 or 15 years to see the results. To improve more cooperation and communication with peer scientists and research institutes will surely help China's research. "But again the main thing is to devote to scientific research and got important scientific discovery."

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry have been awarded by the Academy since 1901. The awarding ceremony takes place on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. At present, each prize amounts to 10 million kr or 1.37 million US dollars. Each prize can be shared by three laureates at the most.

By Chen Xuefei, People's Daily Online correspondent in Stockholm