Nobel Prize Goes to Stem Cell Researchers

Oct 08, 07:16 AM

Current Headlines: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded Monday to two U.S. scientists and a Welsh researcher for stem cell research.

Mario Capecchi, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and distinguished professor of human genetics and biology at the University of Utah; Martin Evans, director of the School of Biosciences and professor of mammalian genetics at Cardiff University in Wales; and Oliver Smithies, an excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were each allotted one-third of the award for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.

Research by the three men in embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination led to the creation of gene targeting in mice, a process that is being used in biomedicine to conduct research and create new therapies.

The Nobel Prize, which will be formally awarded Dec. 10, carries a cash award of about $1.5 million.