2 Americans win Nobel Prize in medicine

[OhioChick]

By MATT MOORE and KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writers
14 minutes ago

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Americans Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for discovering a way to turn off the effect of specific genes.

"RNA interference" is already being widely used in basic science as a method to study the function of genes and it is being studied as a treatment for virus infections, heart diseases, cancer and several other conditions.

Fire, of Stanford University, and Mello, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, published their seminal work in 1998.

RNA interference occurs naturally in plants, animals, and humans. The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which awarded the prize, said it is important for regulating the activity of genes and helps defend against viral infection.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061002/ap_on_re_eu/nobel_medicine

[OneBlueSky]

1. does this mean that there's a Peace Prize on the horizon? . . .

and, if so, who might be worthy of the honor? . . .

[Tanuki]

2. Kicking in the name of science

and in the name of something America can be proud of today

[MikeNearMcChord]

3. I would love to see Cindy Sheehan win it.

What a slap in the face to the Bush-bots.