Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Trio of Evolutionary Scientists (theguardian.com)

Three scientists have won the Nobel prize in chemistry for their work in harnessing evolution to produce new enzymes and antibodies. From a report: British scientist Sir Gregory P Winter and Americans Frances H Arnold and George P Smith will share the 9m Swedish kronor ($1 million) prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Half of the prize goes to Arnold, from the California Institute of Technology, for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes -- proteins that speed up chemical reactions. In a nutshell, Arnold introduced genetic mutations into enzymes, and then looked to see what effect the mutations had. She then selected the cases where a particular mutation proved useful -- for example, allowing the enzyme to work in a solvent it would otherwise not work in. Her work has made it possible to cut out the use of many toxic catalysts and has led to the development of enzymes for all manner of fields, including the development of biofuels and the production of pharmaceuticals.

The other half of the award goes to Winter and Smith, for their work on "phage display of peptides and antibodies." A phage is a virus that can infect bacteria, "tricking" bacteria to reproduce it. Smith genetically engineered phages so that they would include a certain molecule on their outer capsule which allowed him to that encompasses out particular proteins crop up on the outer. Winter used this technology to develop new drugs that have transformed medicine, offering therapies for diseases ranging from cancer to autoimmune conditions. Arnold is only the fifth woman to be awarded the prize for Chemistry -- the last female scientist to scoop the award was Ada E. Yonath in 2009 who shared the prize for her work on understanding the structure of ribosomes: the protein-manufacturing structures inside cells.

Comments

Twofer

[Anonymous Coward]

For the first time, Physics _and_ Chemistry, 2018.
Congratulations Strickland and Arnold!

Now, Slashdot, you may commence your usual loathsome misogynistic/racist rants.
We no longer expect any better from you.

Yes.

[Anonymous Coward]

"arnold is only the fifth woman to be awarded the prize for chemistry. the last female scientist to scoop the award was ada e. yonath in 2009"

does that matter? it shouldn't. in my opinion.
and shouldn't be highlighted. as if noting the fulfillment, or not, of some quota.

Because women in science is a rarity - especially those that win Nobels. And I think it would encourage some young women to continue with science because they will have role models.

And maybe get some men to chill out. I've seen female students be ignored and even actively discouraged from going into science and engineering. "Do you plan on having a family one day? A scientific career is very challenging and requires your full attention." - heard that one myself.

It's all these little things that build up over time that discourages people. Let's try some empathy here: how many of you learned "through osmosis" that you suck at sports? Do you really or were you told by others who had no business telling you that? I had a chemistry professor years ago who told us that he loved playing football but his graduate advisor said, "Scientists don't play football."

It's the same with people of color. Fortunately, Neil De Grasse Tyson was lucky enough to have caught the attention of Carl Sagan who encouraged him. I wonder how many unfortunate brilliant kids are stuck in some inner city shithole and would never even consider a career in science because it's just off their radar. And it's a loss to all of us.

Your a product of your environment and it is very very difficult to break out of it. And with upward mobility becoming a thing of the past here in the USA, I think we're headed for some dark times - a definitely times were we are going to fall behind the rest of the World.