Distinctions: medicine kicks off Nobel season

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNAs, a new class of tiny RNA molecules playing a crucial role in regulating gene activity. The Nobel Prize in Economics closes the awards on Monday 14.

“This year’s Nobel Prize rewards two scientists for their discovery of a fundamental principle governing the regulation of gene activity,” said the Nobel Prize in Medicine jury in a press release.

MicroRNAs “are of fundamental importance for the development and function of organisms.” Victor Ambros, 70, and Gary Ruvkun, 72, published in two separate articles in 1993 their findings on “a new level of gene regulation” that proved decisive.

Collaboratively, but working separately, they conducted research on a millimeter roundworm, C. elegans, to determine why and when cellular mutations occurred.

“Dysregulation of gene regulation can lead to serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes or autoimmunity. This is why understanding the regulation of gene activity has been an important objective for several decades,” underlines the press release.

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Medicine recognized the advances of Hungarian researcher Katalin Kariko and her American colleague Drew Weissman in the development of messenger RNA vaccines, decisive in the fight against covid-19. The prize comes with a reward of eleven million crowns (920,000 euros), the highest nominal value (in Swedish currency) in the more than century-old history of the Nobel Prize.

A week for places in history
For the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday, specialists from Swedish public radio cite Swiss physicist Christoph Gerber, pioneer in the development of the atomic force microscope. “This is a microscope that provides three-dimensional images at such an incredibly small level that it sometimes reaches atomic resolution,” emphasizes Camilla Widebeck of SR.

The tool has become crucial in the field of nanotechnology and nanoscience, she adds. The name of Gerber also comes up in the anticipations of the Clarivate firm, which also mentions the work of David Deutsch and Peter W. Shor on quantum algorithms.

For Wednesday’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, NR radio’s Lars Bröstrom cites US-based biologist Omar Yaghi and his work on metal-organic networks (MORs) and their porous properties for absorbing dangerous gases.

Karl Deisseroth, psychiatrist and specialist in bioengineering, could also be consecrated by the Nobel committee. The researcher has invested in the field of optogenetics, which makes neurons sensitive to light. Under his leadership, researchers have managed to make a mouse brain completely transparent to see what is happening there.

Awarded on October 10, the Nobel Prize for Literature, one of the flagship prizes along with the Nobel Peace Prize, is, like every year, the subject of speculation. The Chinese avant-garde author Can Xue, often compared to Kafka for the unreal and dark atmosphere which permeates her novels and short stories, is frequently cited by literary critics. “I think it will be a woman from a non-European linguistic region,” Björn Wiman, head of the cultural department of the daily Dagens Nyheter, predicts for AFP.

Nobel Peace Prize: dilemma in perspective
Highlight of the week, the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded on Friday October 11, has never been so difficult to predict, as disasters multiply on the planet. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the name of the Afghan Mahbouba Seraj, a fervent advocate for the rights of Afghan women, are cited among those eligible for the Nobel Prize.

Faced with the existential risk that weapons systems capable of operating autonomously without human control represent for Humanity, several experts also cite the coalition of non-governmental organizations Stop Killer Robots as a possible winner. The Nobel Prize in Economics closes the awards on Monday 14.

Sami Nemli with agencies / Les Inspirations ECO