SWEDEN: Three scientists share the 2002 Nobel chemistry prize for the discovery of new ways to study proteins, the building blocks of life. Researchers from the US, Japan and Switzerland are included in the honour, with the work bringing advances in our understanding the processes of life.
Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences announced the winners of the $1 million chemistry prize yesterday in Stockholm. They include Dr John Fenn of the US, Japan's Dr Koichi Tanaka and Dr Kurt Wuethrich of Switzerland.
"Their work has paved the way for the future finding of a cure for cancer," Dr Bengt Norden, chairman of the Nobel committee for chemistry stated yesterday.
All of the researchers developed new ways to study the size, quality and shape of proteins, the essential biochemicals produced inside cells. Fenn and Tanaka improved the widely used technique of mass spectrometry to analyse large molecules and share half the prize. Wuethrich developed a method to identify the structure of proteins, making it possible to study them in an environment similar to that of the living cell and claims the second half of the $1 million prize.
These methods had a tremendous impact because having an understanding of the structure of a protein leads to an understanding of a protein's function inside the body. It opened up the ability to make three dimensional images of proteins, an achievement which the Academy described as a "revolutionary breakthrough".
This research led directly to the ability to detect cancer early, to monitor sports doping, analyse environmental pollution and improve the control of foodstuffs.
Dr Fenn (85), is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He described himself as being "in a state of shock" after the announcement.
Dr Tanaka (43) is the youngest chemistry laureate since 1967 and the second Japanese Nobel winner in this year's announcements following the physics prize awarded to a Japanese researcher on Tuesday. Dr Tanaka works as a research scientist at Shimadzu Corporation in Kyoto.
Dr Wuethrich (64), is the fifth Swiss chemistry laureate and the first since 1991. He described the timing of the award as perfect as he is retiring from his current position as professor of biophysics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. "I am in the process of building up a new lab in the US because I have to stop working in Switzerland next year. I assume that this can be used very well for a new start in California," he told Swiss radio.
Additional reporting, Reuters