Discoverer of HIV/ AIDS researchers gets Nobel Prize

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

One German and 2 French researchers are awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.

STOCKHOLM : Harald zur Hausen of Germany and the French researchers

Franoise Barr-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were announced Monday as the winners

of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Barr-Sinoussi, of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and Montagnier, director of the

World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, were cited for their

discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS.

Zur Hausen was cited for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical

cancer, the second most common cancer among women.

The German scientist received half of the prize, worth 10 million kronor, or

$1.4 million, while the two French researchers shared the other half.

In its citation, the Nobel Assembly said Barr-Sinoussi's and

Montagnier's discovery was one prerequisite for the current understanding of the

biology of AIDS and its antiretroviral treatment. The pair's work in the early

1980s made it possible to clone the HIV-1 genome.

" This has allowed identification of important details in its replication cycle

and how the virus interacts with its host, " the citation said. " Furthermore, it

led to development of methods to diagnose infected patients and to screen

blood. "

The assembly said zur Hausen " went against current dogma " when he

found that oncogenic human papilloma virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer, the

second most common cancer among women.

" His discovery has led to characterization of the natural history of HPV

infection, an understanding of mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis and the

development of prophylactic vaccines against HPV acquisition, " the citation

said.

Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his

will in the categories of medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, literature

and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of

Sweden 's central bank.

The awards include the money, a diploma and an invitation to the prize

ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in

1896.

Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are

typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.

The award to Barr-Sinoussi was something of a milestone. Only seven women had

won the medicine prize since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901.

The last female winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was the

American researcher Buck, who shared the prize in 2004 with Axel.

They won for their work in studying odorant receptors and the organization of

the olfactory system in human beings.

Last year the award went to Capecchi and Oliver ies of the United

States and of Britain for work that led to a powerful and widely

used technique to manipulate genes in mice, which has helped scientists study

heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

R.Gopal.

Dr. Rajesh  Gopal,MD

Joint  Director,

Gujarat State AIDS  Control  Society (GSACS),

O/1 Block, New   Mental Hospital  Complex,

Meghaninagar,Ahmedabad, Gujarat. PIN 380016 

Phone (O) 079-22680211--12--13,22685210 Fax 079-22680214

e-mail: <dr_rajeshg@...>