The selection for the 2009 Nobel Prizes has begun. Starting from October 5, the winners of the Nobel Prizes will be gradually revealed. Today at 17:00, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine were announced. They are: Elizabeth Blackburn from the University of California, San Francisco; Carol Greider from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore; and Jack Szostak from Harvard Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute! Their primary achievement is the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
Elizabeth Blackburn
Jack Szostak
Carol Greider
The Karolinska Institute stated that these three individuals "have solved a major problem in biology," namely how chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell division and how they are protected against degradation. The secret lies within the telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. Telomerase, produced at the ends of chromosomes, is a natural component related to chromosome maintenance; its absence or dysfunction can trigger aging and cancer. Telomeres are also referred to by scientists as the "biological clock." In new cells, every time a cell divides, the telomeres shorten. When the telomeres can no longer shorten, the cell can no longer divide and subsequently dies. The telomerase discovered by Elizabeth Blackburn and her colleagues plays a crucial role in the growth of some uncontrolled malignant cells. Approximately 90% of cancer cells possess continuously growing telomeres and a relatively high amount of telomerase.
Elizabeth Blackburn was born in 1948 in Australia, and Jack Szostak was born in 1952 in London, UK. They will share the 10 million Swedish krona prize with Carol Greider, who was born in 1961 in the United States.
As per tradition, the announcement ceremony for this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was held in the "Nobel Forum" lecture hall at the Karolinska Institute. The announcement of the winners for Physiology or Medicine marks the beginning of "Nobel Week." Over the coming week, the winners for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economics will be revealed successively.
According to tradition, after all the Nobel Prize winners have been determined, the award ceremony will take place on December 10th each year. This date was chosen to commemorate Alfred Nobel, who passed away on December 10, 1896. Except for the Peace Prize, all other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The award ceremony is grand yet simple, with attendance limited to between 1,500 and 1,800 people each year. Men are required to wear white tie and tails or national costume, while women are required to wear formal evening gowns. (Text by Zhou Xiang)
Biographies of the 2009 Nobel Prize Winners in Physiology or Medicine
Elizabeth Blackburn
Elizabeth Helen Blackburn is a molecular biologist and biochemist. She conducted pioneering research on DNA and cell division, which provided new research methods for understanding the chemical basis of life.
She discovered a key enzyme, telomerase. Telomerase is essential for chromosomes to replicate themselves before cell division and has been used in the study of chromosomal behavior and various diseases, such as fungal infections and cancer.
Elizabeth Blackburn holds dual citizenship of the United States and Australia. She was born in November 1948 in Hobart, Australia. Both of her parents were physicians, and her interest in medicine and biology was influenced by them from a young age.
Blackburn graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 1970 and earned a Master of Science degree from the same university in 1971. She then went to the University of Cambridge in the UK for further studies, obtaining a PhD in molecular biology in 1975. During her time at Cambridge, she met and married John Sedat. Sedat is an American who was pursuing a postdoctoral degree in biology in the UK. Due to career development and personal reasons, Blackburn moved to the United States. After arriving in the US, she began her research on telomeres. Telomeres help chromosomes remain stable and intact, ensuring the integrity of the DNA self-replication process. In 1978, she became an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley. It was during her time at this university that she made her pioneering discoveries regarding chromosomes and DNA.
In 1990, Elizabeth Blackburn moved to the University of California, San Francisco. Currently, she is the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology at UCSF.
Because of her criticism of the George W. Bush administration’s restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, Blackburn was dismissed from the President’s Council on Bioethics in 2004. Earlier this year, Blackburn said: "The previous administration gave a very strange impression that they believed science was the enemy of morality." Due to her outstanding academic achievements, Elizabeth Blackburn was once named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Carol Greider
Carol Greider is an American, born in 1961 in San Diego. She grew up not far from the University of California, Davis campus, where her father was a physics professor.
Carol Greider earned her PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1987. After completing her postdoctoral research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, she was appointed as a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore in 1997.
Greider co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that helps telomeres maintain their length and integrity.
Carol Greider, along with Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak, received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2006 for their fundamental medical research.
Jack Szostak
Jack Szostak was born in 1952 in the United Kingdom and grew up in Canada.
Jack Szostak studied at McGill University in Montreal and earned his PhD from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1977.
Since 1979, Jack Szostak has worked at Harvard Medical School and is currently a Professor of Genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He also serves at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Jack Szostak has made pioneering contributions to the field of genetics. He is working to create a self-replicating protocell that evolves according to Darwinian theory to study the origin of life and its earliest evolution. (Zhou Xiang)