An October call to arms: We Are Research!

The American Society for Cell Biology is targeting the first week of October 2012 (the week before Nobel Prize winners are announced) to launch the We Are Research initiative. The goal of this initiative is to mobilize practicing junior and senior scientists, including graduate students, postdocs, and other lab members, to make contact with their elected officials and neighbors and explain to them why Federal support and investment in biomedical research is vital to the health and economic welfare of the United States. This initiative is designed to illustrate how important people are to scientific research and to supply our representatives with reliable and accurate information in the form of letters, emails, telephone calls, and personal visits.     

The Nobel Prize as a Reward Mechanism in the Genomics Era: Anonymous Researchers,Visible Managers and the Ethics of Excellence

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is regarded by many as one of the major scientific achievements in recent science history, a large-scale endeavour that is changing the way in which biomedical research is done and expected, moreover, to yield considerable benefit for society. Thus, since the completion of the human genome sequencing effort, a debate has emerged over the question whether this effort merits to be awarded a Nobel Prize and if so, who should be the one(s) to receive it, as (according to current procedures) no more than three individuals can be selected. In this article, the HGP is taken as a case study to consider the ethical question to what extent it is still possible, in an era of big science, of large-scale consortia and global team work, to acknowledge and reward individual contributions to important breakthroughs in biomedical fields. Is it still viable to single out individuals for their decisive contributions in order to reward them in a fair and convincing way? Whereas the concept of the Nobel prize as such seems to reflect an archetypical view of scientists as solitary researchers who, at a certain point in their careers, make their one decisive discovery, this vision has proven to be problematic from the very outset. Already during the first decade of the Nobel era, Ivan Pavlov was denied the Prize several times before finally receiving it, on the basis of the argument that he had been active as a research manager (a designer and supervisor of research projects) rather than as a researcher himself. The question then is whether, in the case of the HGP, a research effort that involved the contributions of hundreds or even thousands of researchers worldwide, it is still possible to “individualise” the Prize? The “HGP Nobel Prize problem” is regarded as an exemplary issue in current research ethics, highlighting a number of quandaries and trends involved in contemporary life science research practices more broadly.     

George E. Palade, Cell Biology and The JCB

On October 7, 2008, the world lost one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century, and modern cell biology lost its founder. George E. Palade, recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1974 for his work that established our basic understanding of cellular organization, died at the age of 95 after a long illness.     

诺贝尔化学奖授予CRISPR-Cas9基因编辑研究

2020年，诺贝尔化学奖授予现在德国马普感染生物学研究所工作的法国科学家Emmanuelle Charpentier和美国加州大学伯克利分校的?Jennifer Doudna，表彰她们发明CRISPR基因编辑方法。她们揭示了Cas9具有RNA介导的DNA 核酸内切酶活性，可以切断任意DNA双链，产生DNA双链断裂。她们还指出CRISPR具有在活细胞中修改基因的能力，利用CRISPR-Cas9编辑工具人们可以精确改变细胞中的DNA。由于简单、高效、廉价等特征，CRISPR已经成为全球最为流行的基因编辑技术，被称为编辑基因的“魔剪”。本文介绍两位诺贝尔化学奖获得者的研究成果，总结CRISPR系统的发现过程，并概述CRISPR-Cas9的功能以及应用。     

百年来直接与昆虫学有关的诺贝尔奖得主

本文介绍了 1 0名直接与昆虫学有关的诺贝尔奖得主的事迹 ,并简要讨论了百年诺贝尔奖历史带给人们的启示     

A shared vision

One of today's most powerful technologies in biomedical research--the creation of mutant mice by gene targeting in embryonic stem (ES) cells--was finally celebrated in this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine. The history of how ES cells were first discovered and genetically manipulated highlights the importance of collaboration among scientists from different backgrounds with a shared vision.     

Nobel thoughts

The community of scientists should celebrate the Nobel Prize, even if awards bestowed on one discipline are associated with another discipline. A new prize might help.     

1／4世纪的艾滋病毒研究——艾滋病毒的发现获得2008年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖

法国科学家弗朗索瓦丝·巴尔·西诺西和吕克·蒙塔尼因发现艾滋病毒而获得2008年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。本文简述了艾滋病毒的发现及25年来在HIV起源、致病、治疗和预防领域取得的研究进展。     

低氧诱导因子-1：细胞适应氧供应改变的关键蛋白

2019年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖授予威廉·凯林(William Kaelin Jr)、彼得·拉特克里夫爵士(Sir Peter Ratcliffe)和格雷格·赛门扎(Gregg Semenza),以表彰他们在细胞感知和适应缺氧机制上做出的重要贡献.低氧诱导因子-1 (hypoxiainducible factor-1,HIF-1)在细胞适应氧供应改变中起关键作用,可作为转录因子改变基因表达,通过提高机体携氧能力、增加血液供应、改变代谢方式等途径来适应缺氧环境.而HIF-1的功能也受到各种机制调控:泛素化-蛋白酶体途径降解和转录因子活性抑制. HIF-1与抑癌蛋白(protein von Hippel-Lindau,pVHL)、脯氨酸羟化酶(proline hydroxylase,PHD)、HIF抑制因子(factor inhibiting HIF,FIH)等构成了严密有序的调节网络.本文总结了3位诺贝尔奖获得者的研究成果,并结合最新的研究进展,系统阐述了HIF-1表达量调节机制和HIF-1介导的细胞适应缺氧环境机制.     

The life and legacy of Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a remarkable woman whose discoveries broke new ground in physics and chemistry and also opened the door for advances in engineering, biology, and medicine. She broke new ground for women in science: she was, for example, the first woman to receive a doctor of science degree in France, the first woman to win Nobel Prize, the first woman to lecture at the Sorbonne, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, and the first Nobel Laureate whose child also won a Nobel Prize. Her life offers insights into the changing role of women in science and academia over the past century. It also offers examples of many ways in which scientists can, and should, work to improve the educational programs and career opportunities available to those who follow in their footsteps.     

The contribution of the Nobel laureates to biochemistry and molecular biology

The Nobel Prize winners works are considered and analyzed. Main attention is paid to the works devoted to biochemistry or problems related to biochemistry. The most prominent biochemical investigations are considered in detail. In some cases it is given the history and chronology of important biochemical discoveries. The survey is devoted due to the 170th anniversary of birth of Alfred Bernhard Nobel--a famous scientist and businessman, the founder of the Nobel Prizes.     

生命科学研究的又一个里程碑——记2003年度诺贝尔化学奖

瑞典皇家科学院宣布 ,美国的两位科学家Agre和MacKinnon ,因他们在细胞膜物质转运通道蛋白质研究方面的重要发现分享 2 0 0 3年度诺贝尔化学奖 .Agre发现了水通道 (waterchannel) ,并且解释了水通道对水分子的选择性通透等重要特性 ;MacKinnon确立了K 离子通道的高分辨率的三维结构 ,并且详细地阐明了其离子选择性等功能机制 .两位科学家把他们对科学研究前沿领域的高度敏感性与科学的方法论紧密结合在一起 .他们从化学基础研究出发 ,为生命科学前沿领域后基因组的研究作出了卓越贡献     

Ion channels go to Stockholm--this time as proteins

The 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to two structural biologists, Roderick Mackinnon of Rockefeller University and Peter Agre of Johns Hopkins University, for their groundbreaking work on the structure and function of ion channels. In recognition of the outstanding impact that MacKinnon's work has had for neuroscience, Chris Miller traces MacKinnon's scientific path to the Nobel Prize.     

Harold Varmus [interview by Karen Birmingham

He may have stepped away from the hottest seat in biomedical research, but Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus shows no signs of withdrawing from the frontline of the biomedical research community, and he still displays the inimitable combination of political astuteness and scientific expertise that made his reign as director of the United States National Institutes of Health so successful. Varmus spoke to Nature Medicine for the first in a series of profiles that the journal will run on scientists that make a difference to biomedical research.     

Who was... Emil von Behring?

Emil von Behring was first in the line of distinguished immunologists to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. His contributions to our knowledge of immunity ignited an impassioned argument between French and German scientists at the end of the 19th century, the first of many scientific debates in the immunological world.     

RNAi from plants to nematodes

Coincident with the award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2006 to Fire and Mello for their discovery of RNAi, plant scientists have succeeded in using RNAi-based techniques to control nematodes, a hitherto unmanageable plant parasite. Recent work has demonstrated that the expression in a host plant of double-stranded RNA targeting housekeeping or parasitism genes in the root-knot nematode resulted in resistance to nematode infection.     

Methods for Molecular Evolution of Polymerases

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - In 2018, three scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Frances H. Arnold, “for the directed evolution of enzymes”; George P. Smith and...     

Parasitology in France: the past

The 'French School of Parasitology' has its roots in the thirteenth century. Since then, it has contributed much to our understanding of parasitic organisms, their biology and their role as etiological agents of disease. In many fields of parasitology, the names of members of this school remain associated with taxonomic groups or species and they include two Nobel Prize winners, yet today, the origins of these names and the efforts of these early parasitologists have too often been forgotten. Here, Ian Humphery-Smith, Jean Théodoridès, Louis Touratier and Anne-Marie Le-Flohic outline the highlights of the French contribution to our knowledge of host-parasite relationships.     

Can Andean medicine coexist with biomedical healthcare? A comparison of two rural communities in Peru and Bolivia

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: It is commonly assumed that indigenous medical systems are strong in developing countries because biomedicine is physically inaccessible or financially not affordable. This paper compares the health-seeking behavior of households from rural Andean communities at a Peruvian and a Bolivian study site. The main research question was whether the increased presence of biomedicine led to a displacement of Andean indigenous medical practices or to coexistence of the two healing traditions. Methodology: Interviews were conducted between June 2006 and December 2008 with 18 households at each study site. Qualitative identification and analysis of households' therapeutic strategies and use of remedies was complemented by quantitative assessment of the incidence of culture-bound illnesses in local ethnobiological inventories. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that the health-seeking behavior of Andean households is independent of the degree of availability of biomedical facilities in terms of quality of services provided, physical accessibility, and financial affordability, except for specific practices such as childbirth. Preference for natural remedies over pharmaceuticals coexisted with biomedical healthcare that was both accessible and affordable. Furthermore, our results show that greater access to biomedicine does not lead to less prevalence of Andean indigenous medical knowledge, as represented by the levels of knowledge about culture-bound illnesses. CONCLUSIONS: The take-home lesson for health policy-makers from this study is that the main obstacle to improved use of biomedicine in resource-poor rural areas might not be infrastructural or economic alone. Rather, it may lie in lack of sufficient recognition by biomedical practitioners of the value and importance of indigenous medical systems. We propose that the implementation of health care in indigenous communities be designed as a process of joint development of complementary knowledge and practices from indigenous and biomedical health traditions.     

细胞内一种耗能蛋白质降解途径的发现——2004年诺贝尔化学奖工作介绍

2004年诺贝尔化学奖授予Aaron Ciechanover,Avram Hershko和Irwin Rose三位科学家,以表彰他们在上世纪80年代发现了泛素介导的蛋白质降解过程。文章简单介绍了该现象的科学发现历程,并讨论了该科学发现历程给予我们的启示。