New York, October 05: Two women and a man, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak shared the Noble Prize in medicine for their pioneering work in chromosomal studies which revealed how chromosomes protect themselves as cells divide, work that has inspired experimental cancer therapies and may offer insights into aging.
According to reports, Blackburn, 60, who holds the dual U.S. and Australian citizenship, is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.
Greider, 48, is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
London-born Szostak, 56, is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and a researcher with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The noble laureates Blackburn and Greider discovered an enzyme, called telomerase that maintains the lengths of the telomeres, which are the features at the tips of the chromosomes.
“The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies,” the Nobel jury said.
“They’re not being honored because they are women. They are being honored because they’ve made a fundamentally important discovery,” he told Swedish news agency.
The prize money is a big purse of $1.4 million, which will be split among the three winners this time.
–Agencies–