Stockholm, October 3
US scientists Frances Arnold and George Smith and British researcher Gregory Winter won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for applying the principles of evolution to develop enzymes used to make everything from biofuels to medicine.
Arnold, just the fifth woman to clinch chemistry’s most prestigious honour, won one half of the nine million Swedish kronor (about $1.01 million) award, while Smith and Winter shared the other half.
“The 2018 Nobel Laureates in chemistry have taken control of evolution and used it for purposes that bring the greatest benefit to humankind,” the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences said.
The trio used the same principles of evolution — genetic change and selection — to develop proteins used in a range of fields.
“They have applied the principles of Darwin in test tubes. They have used the molecular understanding we have of the evolutionary process and recreated the process in their labs,” said Claes Gustafsson, head of the Academy’s Nobel chemistry committee. “They have been able to make evolution many 1000s of times faster and redirect it to create new proteins.”
Arnold, 62, who has survived breast cancer and is a single mother to three sons, is a professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. Her method of rewriting DNA to mimic evolution has helped solve problems such as replacing toxic chemicals like fossil fuels.
As a result, renewable resources like sugarcane are being converted into biofuel. More environment friendly chemical substances are being developed, improving everyday products such as laundry and dishwashing detergents to enhance their performance in cold temperatures.
“The most beautiful, complex, and functional objects on the planet have been made by evolution. We can now use evolution to make things that no human knows how to design,” Arnold said in 2016.
“Evolution is the most powerful engineering method in the world, and we should make use of it to find new biological solutions to problems,” she said. Meanwhile, Smith of the University of Missouri and Winter, a 67-year-old genetic engineer at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge, developed an “elegant method” known as phage display, where a bacteriophage — a virus that infects bacteria — can be used to evolve new proteins, the jury said.
Pharmaceuticals for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases have resulted from their research, as well as antibodies that can neutralise toxins, counteract autoimmune diseases and cure metastatic cancer.
“The discoveries by Smith and Winter are having an enormous impact, particularly on medicine with antibody drugs that have fewer side effects and are more efficient,” Goran Hansson, head of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said. — AFP
George Smith
- An emeritus professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri
- Smith won for a technique known as “phage display”, which uses bacteriophage — a virus that infects bacteria — to evolve new proteins
Frances Arnold
- A professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, she’s a breast cancer survivor and a single mother to three sons
- Rewrote DNA to mimic evolution, which has solved problems such as replacing toxicants
Gregory Winter
- A genetic engineer at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge
- The duo developed phage display, where a bacteriophage — a virus that infects bacteria — can be used to evolve new proteins
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