Three Gene Researchers Share Award for Nobel Prize in Medicine

One American and two British researchers have received the 2002 Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries related to gene regulation, the New York Times reports. Sydney Brenner of the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, Calif., and John Sulston of the Sanger Center at Cambridge University -- both from the United Kingdom -- and H. Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology share the $1 million prize for the identification of genes that regulate organ development and a process of programmed "cell suicide" required to eliminate excess cells (Altman, New York Times, 10/8). The discoveries have "shed new light" on the development of several diseases such as AIDS, neurodegenerative diseases and strokes, the AP/St. Petersburg Times reports. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, which selects the winner of the prize, invites nominations from past recipients, medical professors and others worldwide and makes a final decision in the fall. Last year's winners, Leland Hartwell of the United States and R. Timothy Hunt and Paul Nurse of Britain, discovered regulators of the process that allows cells to divide, which could lead to new cancer treatments (Gamel, AP/St. Petersburg Times, 10/7). NPR's "Morning Edition" yesterday reported on the winners of the 2002 prize (Harris, "Morning Edition," NPR, 10/7). The full segment is available RealPlayer Audio online.