Gene Silencing - Nobel Prize in Medicine 2006

NPR
Health & Science
Americans Win Nobel for Work in Genetic Therapy
by Richard Knox and Deborah Amos


Morning Edition, October 2, 2006. This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to two American researchers, Andrew Fire of Stanford University and Craig Mello of the University of Massachusetts. The pair, who discovered how to selectively silence genes that cause disease, will share the $1.4 million prize.

Fire and Mello focused on RNA interference, a way of affecting how the genetic code from DNA is translated into a working protein.

Each gene contains the instructions to make a particular protein. Some of the proteins are good proteins, but some are bad, like cholesterol.

Fire and Mello discovered that special types of RNA could interfere with protein production. Their work, published in 1998, could eventually be applied to cancer and AIDS research.

Detail from a graphic showing a basic test involving RNA. Nobel Committee

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