Roger Kornberg will receive this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on unzipping genetic transcription. More info on the Nobel site and my write-up next week under the Intute Spotlight and an XRD-oriented version to appear in spectroscopynow.com.
This just in from the American Chemical Society (19h00 UK time):
‘The research Dr. Kornberg did will help open the door to understanding and treating many human ailments, including cancer, heart disease and inflammation, and will help scientists better understand stem cells and their potential for therapeutic applications,” said Ann Nalley president of the American Chemical Society and a chemistry professor at Cameron University, in Lawton, Oklahoma. ‘This Nobel Prize also underscores the key role of chemistry in the scientific research into genetics. In order to take the first actual pictures revealing how the genetic information stored in genes is copied so that the body can use it, Dr. Kornberg used a mainstay chemical technology called x-ray crystallography.”
She adds that, ‘Chemistry has had a key role from the very onset of the genetics revolution. It has provided the core technologies that enabled molecular biology and biotechnology to leap ahead. I am delighted that this Nobel Prize highlights chemistry’s role in such an important field of research.'”
I couldn’t agree more, but it would be nice if the Chemistry prize were more geared to straight chemistry, especially as the Medicine prize was awarded this year for essentially similar research into RNA interference, which could just as easily be labelled “Chemistry”. Oh well.