Today was announced the Nobel prize in chemistry. The award was given to Frances Arnold (USA) for work in the field of the evolution of enzymes and George Smith (USA) and sir Gregory winter (UK) for the development of phage display.
- The Nobel prize in medicine was awarded for discoveries in cancer immunotherapy
- The Nobel prize for elegant idea: immunotherapy against cancer
- Tweezer for atoms and the taming of the laser – what it is and why you need
- The Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded for the study of evolution of enzymes
The increase in life expectancy and resistance to disease
The Dean of chemical faculty, Moscow state University Stepan Kalmykov:
– The list of winners 2018 shows modern trends in chemical science – major breakthroughs are made in the field of life Sciences, at the interface of chemistry, biology and medicine.
Enzymes are large protein molecules that control many processes in living organisms. And we are talking about their directed modification — to get a new reaction and form chemical bonds, which in nature could not be. Such changes can lead to new properties of the organism – the increase in life expectancy, disease resistance, evolutionary change.
It really is a revolution in the study of enzymes, the consequences of which have tremendous practical importance in medical and biomedical field. This targeted drug delivery, and change the biochemistry of the body. That is, the results of this work can touch every person on Earth.
The work of Professor Frances Arnold helped with the help of enzymes to make qualitative breakthroughs in a large number of syntheses, and achievements Gregory winter and George Smith has allowed significant progress in the synthesis of proteins and new pharmaceuticals (including anticancer) drugs.
Yesterday was the names of Nobel prize winners in physics Arthur Eskina, Gerard Moore and Donna Strickland. The main field of scientific achievements of laser physics. The main invention of Arthur Eskina is optical tweezers, which allows to manipulate small objects — viruses, microorganisms, cells, embryos by laser radiation.
Gerard Moore and Donna Strickland have created ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulses, their technique formed the basis of almost all modern high-intensity lasers, and the limits of its application is extremely wide.
Artificial insemination and vision correction
The Director of the Institute for regenerative medicine of the First MGMU them.Sechenov Peter Timashev:
– It is difficult to overestimate the importance of these inventions for biology and medicine. For a very long time the possibilities that they opened, remained a fantasy not only of science fiction writers, and even scientists. Optical tweezers Arthur Eskina allowed to perform different operations such microscopic objects as cells, bacteria and even viruses. It underlies the techniques of artificial insemination, when we can separate and move the sperm directly to the egg for the implementation of their merger. The invention of Gerald Moore and Donna Strickland have made real millions of operations on correction of vision are now being conducted around the world.
I have to emphasize that scientists sechenovskiy University, together with colleagues from the Institute of photonic technology, RAS are actively engaged in the development of three-dimensional bio-printer laser with integrated optical tweezers. This will allow not only to print the specific tissue, but also to manipulate if necessary the cells and their associates, which will greatly facilitate and speed up the process. So, overall we can take a giant step towards the formation and implementation of artificial tissues and organs in clinical practice and overcome the shortage of organs for transplantation.