Nobel Prize in Medicine

Three scientists win the Nobel Prize in medicine.

The Nobel prize in medicine was announced on Monday. It will be shared by three scientists. They were cited for their work in manipulating the genes in mice, creating so-called designer mice which can help scientists study diseases in humans."

"Two Americans and a Briton developed the immensely powerful 'knockout' technology, which allows scientists to create animal models of human disease in mice."

The three winners are
Mario R. Capecchi, 70, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City;
Oliver Smithies, 82, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; and
Sir Martin J. Evans, 66, of Cardiff University in Wales."

According to the Nobel Committee, "Other scientists are applying their technology, also known as gene targeting, in a variety of ways, from basic research to the development of new therapies."

This new technology "provided researchers with a superb new tool for finding out what any given gene does."

In effect, scientists can now "genetically engineer a strain of mice with the gene missing, or knocked out, then watch to see what the mice can no longer do."

Capecchi and the other researchers were honored for work they did in the 1980s, investigating how mouse genes can be manipulated to better understand and model serious illnesses in humans such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease."

The Post continues, "Applying the new method to Evans's cells, the scientists were able to introduce specific gene modifications in mouse embryos, creating animals with human diseases such as cystic fibrosis."

Mice that have undergone "gene targeting" are "now commonly used in laboratory experiments, [and] could help researchers better understand the origins of disease and find treatments and medicines."

More than 500 mouse models have been developed since the late 1980s, when Capecchi and Evans learned how to insert new genes into the animal DNA."

Drugmakers now routinely use such animals, which are "available from companies such as Charles River Laboratories Inc. in Wilmington, Massachusetts."

It is anticipated that "the U.S...will spend $50 million over five years to make mouse models involving more diseases." Anna Wobus, an embryologist at the Leibniz Institute in Gatersleben, Germany, said of the winners' work, "It is absolutely clear this opened a whole new level in research."

Dr. Eric Lander, director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, said, "It's hard to imagine a more appropriate or more wonderful choice than this,"

Furthermore, Dr. Lander noted, "What gives the work its power,...is how useful it is. 'You want to study a mutation that causes Alzheimer's disease?' ... Make a mouse that has that mutation.'"

Mice can be engineered with genes which play a role in diabetes, for instance, and studied. Alternatively, mice can be made without certain genes in order to understand the function of those genes.

"The three prize-winning scientists mostly worked separately, although they exchanged information about their research.

Evans identified embryonic stem cells in mice, while the gene-targeting technique used on those cells came from work by Capecchi and Smithies."

"Capecchi's work has uncovered the roles of genes involved in organ development in mammals, the committee said."

Meanwhile, "Evans developed strains of gene-altered mice to study cystic fibrosis, and Smithies created strains to study such conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease."

"In 2001, the three scientists received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research -- an award that is often assumed to be a precursor to the Nobel."

"[i]ronically, the...[NIH] rejected Capecchi's initial grant proposal, arguing that 'the experiments would never work,' Capecchi said in a telephone interview."

Capecchi had to obtain funding from other sources in "to validate his ideas." According to Jeremy Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which funded most of Capecchi and Smithies's research, "both awards were richly deserved because the men's work had 'dramatically reshaped the research landscape,' and created 'an indispensable tool for biomedical research.'"

"The prize is the first Nobel received by a researcher at each of the universities." Drugmakers such as Pfizer, Inc. now use gene targeting "to understand disease and discover new therapies."

According to Capecchi, "he foresaw that researchers one day would breed colonies of genetically altered mice for studying the nature of human illnesses."

But he pointed out that "[i]t was just remarkable how quickly it happened. ... We spent a lot of time working so that other labs could pick up our techniques quickly, and it ended up affecting a lot of fields."

The three winners "will each receive a Nobel medal." In addition, they will "share the $1.5 million prize." "The award will be presented Dec. 10, along with Nobel Prizes for

• chemistry,
• physics,
• literature,
• peace, and
• economics."