The Nobel Prize in Medicine 2009

[Masanilo]

Elizabeth H. Blackburn Carol W. Greider Jack W. Szostak

The Nobel Prize in Medicine 2009


"for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"


Three U.S. based scientists have won the 2009 Nobel prize for medicine for their discovery into how chromosomes are copied and protected. The work casts important light on cancer and the aging process Elizabeth Blackburn from the University of California, San Francisco, Jack Szostak from Harvard Medical School and Carol Greider from Johns Hopkins University all share this year's Nobel prize for medicine.

Nobel Committee member Rune Toftgard from Sweden's Karolinska Institute says the three took the top honor for their work in the 1980s that revealed how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.

"They have been awarded the prize for the discovery of telomeres and the enzyme telomerase and how it protects the chromosomes," said Toftgard.

Telomeres are structures at the ends of chromosomes often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces that keep the laces from unraveling.

The enzyme that builds telomeres is called telomerase.

Professor Toftgard says the function of telomeres is absolutely crucial in understanding how genetic material is copied and preserved.

"All genes are encoded by DNA, and the DNA is present in the chromosomes in the cell nucleus and telomeres, they are the ends of the chromosomes and they have an important function to protect the chromosomes and maintain the integrity of the chromosomes," added Toftgard.

Their research has shed new light on disease mechanisms and has spawned the development of potential new therapies.

For instance, some research suggests that cancer cells use the enzyme telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth. Some in the scientific community are studying whether drugs that block the enzyme can fight the disease.

Elizabeth Backburn says she was awakened at 2 in the morning with the news of the award. She says prizes are always a nice thing and it is lovely to share it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.

The three will also share the $1.4 million that comes with the prestigious award.

NB

Big breakthrough kwenye science lots of theories were put forward explaining aging and how chromosomes are protected zisiwe cancerous....jamaa wameeelezea ni mambo ya kwenye telomere. Ambapo huwa hakuna house keeping genes na kuko highly diverse....

Nawapa hongera sana natamani kuona siku moja Mtanzania anapata hii award

Masa

 

[Sikonge]

Jack W. Szostak

Masa

Huyu jamaa kakaa kama Mpolish au Mczeck hivi na kama siyo basi zitakuwa nchi za hapo jirani na kama sikosei atakuwa ni JACEK SZOSTAK. Kama atakuwa na asili ya Poland basi hawa jamaa zake Mwakalinga watakuwa wanapiga sana makelele. Waczeck wao huwa hawana makelele sana.

Juu ya ugunduzi wao huu, kuna neema yoyote kwa Mipingo kama sisi? au itakuwa tu kuwashangilia wenzetu na ugunduzi wao? Maana nasikia wanaweza kupata dawa ya kumfanya mtu awe kijana kwa muda mrefu ila hiyo dawa inasababisha Canser. Sasa sijui kipi ni kipi?

 

[Masanilo]

Huyu jamaa kakaa kama Mpolish au Mczeck hivi na kama siyo basi zitakuwa nchi za hapo jirani na kama sikosei atakuwa ni JACEK SZOSTAK. Kama atakuwa na asili ya Poland basi hawa jamaa zake Mwakalinga watakuwa wanapiga sana makelele. Waczeck wao huwa hawana makelele sana.

Juu ya ugunduzi wao huu, kuna neema yoyote kwa Mipingo kama sisi? au itakuwa tu kuwashangilia wenzetu na ugunduzi wao? Maana nasikia wanaweza kupata dawa ya kumfanya mtu awe kijana kwa muda mrefu ila hiyo dawa inasababisha Canser. Sasa sijui kipi ni kipi?

Safi sana wanaJF walau umechangia huku kwenye science na tech kuliko kule kwa akina nani hii...huku mtu haleti matusi maana ni nondo tu. Jina la huyu Prof Jack W. Szostak inawezekana akawa anaasili ya huko Estern Europe. Mwakalingacevic naye ni mashine kwenye fani yake haina ubishi.

Iko hivi

Telomeres keep chomosomes protected and prevent them from fusing into rings or binding with other DNA. Telomeres play an important role in cell division. Whenever cells divides these telomere get shortened, like a pencil eraser gets shorter each time it's used. Now scientists are thinking to prevent end of chromosome to be shortened ili watu waendelee kuwa vijana....Kwi kwi kwi watu kama sisi hahahaha haters watachukia we are trying to use the length of a cell's telomeres to determine the cell's age and how many more times is will replicate. This is important in anti-aging research. This is fact

In prevention of cancer.....

Kwanza cancer ni kuwa na uncontrolled growth of cells kwa lugha nyepesi, it means cells in your body stop dying. It has been stipulated and proved that cancer cells are created by an enzyme called telomerase, which prevents telomere shortening, so this make them to continue non stopable replicating sawa mkuu?

 

[Masanilo]

2 Americans, 1 Israeli win Nobel chemistry prize

STOCKHOLM – Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz and Israeli Ada Yonath won the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for mapping ribosomes, the protein-producing factories within cells, at the atomic level.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said their work has been fundamental to the scientific understanding of life and has helped researchers develop antibiotic cures for various diseases.
Yonath is the fourth woman to win the Nobel chemistry prize and the first since 1964, when Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin of Britain received the prize.
This year's three laureates all generated three-dimensional models that show how different antibiotics bind to ribosomes.
"These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the academy said in its announcement.
"All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome," the academy said.
Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite, established the Nobel Prizes in his will in 1895. The first awards were handed out six years later.
Each prize comes with a 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) purse, a diploma, a gold medal and an invitation to the prize ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10. The Peace Prize is handed out in Oslo.
On Monday, three American scientists shared the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.
The physics prize on Tuesday was split between a Hong Kong-based scientist who helped develop fiber-optic cable and two Canadian and American researchers who invented the "eye" in digital cameras - technology that has revolutionized communications and science.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_sc/eu_nobel_chemistry

 

[Albedo]

Can any one tell why mathematicians are not given the Nobel Prize?

 

[Masanilo]

Can any one tell why mathematicians are not given the Nobel Prize?

Nobel prizes were created by the will of a Swedish Chemists Alfred Nobel.
Nobel did propose a category for mathematics because a woman he proposed to be his wife cheated him with a famous mathematician. Gosta Mittag-Leffler is often claimed to be the guilty party.For one, Mr. Nobel was never married and hated mathematicians. Hence six categories of Nobel prizes literature, physics, chemistry, peace, economics, and physiology & medicine.