３名科学家荣膺诺贝尔医学奖
袁磊
http://www.huanqiu.com 来源：环球时报 进入论坛 2007-10-26 14:58
3 scientists win Nobel Prize in medicine
As a child in Italy during World War II, he lived for years on the streets and in orphanages. Six decades later, as a scientist in the United States, Mario Capecchi joined two other researchers in winning the Nobel Prize in medicine.
Their work led to a powerful and widely used technique to manipulate genes in mice, which has helped scientists study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.
The $1.54 million prize was awarded Monday to Capecchi, 70, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City; Oliver Smithies, 82, a native of Britain now at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Sir Martin J. Evans, 66, of Cardiff University in Wales.
Their "gene-targeting" technique lets scientists deactivate or modifying individual genes in mice and observe how those changes affect the animals. That in turn gives clues about what those genes do in human health and disease.
The work has had "a revolutionary effect on the ability to understand how genes work," said Richard Woychik, director of The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, a center for mouse genetics.
第二次世界大战时，马里奥•卡佩基还是个孩子，流落在意大利街头和孤儿院。６０多年后，他作为美国科学家与其他两名研究者共同获得诺贝尔医学奖。
他们的研究使实验鼠基因改造技术得以产生，并被广泛有效应用。科学家借助这项技术得以进一步研究心脏病、糖尿病、癌症和囊肿性纤维化等疾病。
价值１５４万美元的诺贝尔医学奖在星期一被宣布授予现年７０岁的美国人卡佩基、现年８２岁、原籍英国的美国人奥利弗•史密斯以及６６岁的英国人马丁•埃文斯。他们３人当前分别在美国犹他大学、美国北卡罗来纳大学查珀尔希尔分校以及英国威尔士加的夫大学任教并从事研究工作。
科学家运用（以他们的研究成果为基础的）“基因靶向”技术，使实验鼠的某些基因失去作用或者被改造，进而观察基因改变对实验鼠造成的影响。这为进一步了解基因对人类健康及疾病的影响提供了线索。
美国缅因州巴尔港杰克森实验室主任理查德•沃维奇克说，他们３人的研究“对人类了解基因有着革命性影响”。沃维奇克的实验室专门研究实验鼠遗传学。
关键词：gene 基因； diabetes 糖尿病
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