BrainBlog

From the CBC: Montreal-born scientist dies before Nobel honour Nobel committee unaware of recipient's recent death CBC News Posted: Oct 3, 2011 5:54 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 3, 2011 10:20 AM ET "Montreal-born scientist Ralph Steinman was announced as the co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday, but the news was immediately overshadowed by word of his death on Friday. "Steinman and two other scientists were announced as winners of the Nobel in medicine. Nobel committee member Goran Hansson said the committee didn't know Steinman was dead when it chose him as a winner and was looking through its regulations. "The Rockefeller University is delighted that the Nobel Foundation has recognized Ralph Steinman for his seminal discoveries concerning the body's immune responses," Rockefeller University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement. "But the news is bittersweet, as we also learned this morning from Ralph's family that he pas...

Read details about this year's awardees at The Nobel Prize website Awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."

From the Nobel Prize website: Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The names of the year's Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine are announced during a press conference at the Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The announcement is webcast live here at Nobelprize.org ! The 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be announced on Monday, October 6, 11:30 a.m. CET (at the earliest).

From the Nobel Assemble press release: The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2007 jointly to Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies for their discoveries of "principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells" Summary This year's Nobel Laureates have made a series of ground-breaking discoveries concerning embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals. Their discoveries led to the creation of an immensely powerful technology referred to as gene targeting in mice. It is now being applied to virtually all areas of biomedicine – from basic research to the development of new therapies. Gene targeting is often used to inactivate single genes. Such gene "knockout" experiments have elucidated the roles of numerous genes in embryonic development, adult physiology, aging and disease. To date, more than ten thousand mouse gen...