http://news.ifeng.com/world/200910/1005_16_1377121.shtml2009年10月05日
中新网10月5日电 北京时间10月5日下午17时30分，2009年度诺贝尔生理学或医学奖在瑞典卡罗林斯卡医学院揭晓，三位美国科学家伊丽莎白·布兰克波恩(Elizabeth H. Blackburn)、卡罗尔·格雷德(Carol W. Greider)以及杰克·绍斯塔克(Jack W. Szostak)共同获得该奖项。他们发现了由染色体根冠制造的端粒酶(telomerase)，这种染色体的自然脱落物将引发衰老和癌症。
伊丽莎白·布兰克波恩来自美国加利福尼亚旧金山大学，于1948年出生于澳大利亚。来自巴尔的摩约翰-霍普金斯医学院的卡罗尔·格雷德出生于1961年。另外，杰克·绍斯塔克来自霍华德休斯医学研究所，他于1952年出生于英国伦敦。他们将平分1000万瑞典克朗(约合140万美元)的奖金。
今年另外几个诺贝尔奖项的揭晓时间分别为：
物理学奖：格林尼治时间6日9时45分(北京时间6日17时45分)；
化学奖：格林尼治时间7日9时45分(北京时间7日17时45分)；
文学奖：格林尼治时间8日11时(北京时间8日19时)；
和平奖：格林尼治时间9日9时(北京时间9日17时)；
经济学奖：格林尼治时间12日11时(北京时间12日19时)。
与去年相同，今年诺贝尔奖每项奖金仍为 1000 万瑞典克朗(约合140万美元)。按照传统，2009年诺贝尔奖颁奖仪式依然将在今年12月10日诺贝尔逝世纪念日这一天举行。除和平奖颁奖仪式在挪威首都奥斯陆举行以外，生理学或医学奖、物理学奖、化学奖、文学奖和经济学奖都将在瑞典首都斯德哥尔摩举行。
近年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖获奖者名单及其主要成就：
2008年，诺贝尔生理学或医学奖授予德国科学家哈拉尔德·楚尔·豪森(Harald zur Hausen)和两位法国科学家弗朗索瓦丝·巴尔-西诺西(Franoise Barre-Sinoussi)、吕克·蒙塔尼(Luc Montagnier)。他们分别在宫颈癌致病因和艾滋病病毒研究上有突出成就。
2007年，美国犹他大学Eccles 人类遗传学研究所科学家Mario R. Capecchi 、美国北卡罗来纳州大学教会山分校医学院教授Oliver Smithies 与英国科学家卡迪夫大学卡迪夫生命科学学院Martin J. Evans因干细胞研究获得此奖项。
2006年，美国科学家安德鲁·法尔和克雷格·梅洛。他们发现了核糖核酸(RNA)干扰机制，这一机制已被广泛用作研究基因功能的一种手段，并有望在未来帮助科学家开发出治疗疾病的新疗法。
2005年，澳大利亚科学家巴里·马歇尔和罗宾·沃伦。他们发现了导致人类罹患胃炎、胃溃疡和十二指肠溃疡的罪魁——幽门螺杆菌，革命性地改变了世人对这些疾病的认识。
2004年，美国科学家理查德·阿克塞尔和琳达·巴克。他们在气味受体和嗅觉系统组织方式研究中做出贡献，揭示了人类嗅觉系统的奥秘。
2003年，美国科学家保罗·劳特布尔和英国科学家彼得·曼斯菲尔德。他们在核磁共振成像技术上获得关键性发现，这些发现最终导致核磁共振成像仪的出现。
2002年，英国科学家悉尼·布雷内、约翰·苏尔斯顿和美国科学家罗伯特·霍维茨。他们为研究器官发育和程序性细胞死亡过程中的基因调节作用做出了重大贡献。
2001年，美国科学家利兰·哈特韦尔、英国科学家保罗·纳斯和蒂莫西·亨特。他们发现了导致细胞分裂的关键性调节机制，这一发现为研究治疗癌症的新方法开辟了途径。
2000年，瑞典科学家阿尔维德·卡尔松、美国科学家保罗·格林加德和埃里克·坎德尔。他们在研究脑细胞间信号的相互传递方面获得了重要发现。
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091005/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_medicineSTOCKHOLM – Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering a key mechanism in the genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.
It was the first time two women have been among the winners of the medicine prize.
The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.
The Nobel citation said the laureates found the solution in the ends of the chromosomes — features called telomeres that are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces from unraveling.
Blackburn and Greider discovered the enzyme that builds telomeres — telomerase — and the mechanism by which it adds DNA to the tips of chromosomes to replace genetic material that has eroded away.
The prize-winners' work, done in the late 1970s and 1980s, set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth. Scientists are studying whether drugs that block the enzyme can fight the disease. In addition, scientists believe that the DNA erosion the enzyme repairs might play a role in some illnesses.
"The discoveries by Blackburn, Greider and Szostak have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential new therapies," the prize committee said in its citation.
Ten women have won the prestigious medicine award since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901, but it was the first time that two women were honored in the same year.
Nobel judges say women are underrepresented in Nobel statistics because the award-winning research often dates back several decades to a time when science was dominated by men. Still, critics say the judges aren't looking hard enough for deserving women candidates.
"We don't give Nobel Prizes because of gender," medicine prize committee member Goran Hansson told The Associated Press. "We give it for scientific discoveries. As more women participate in research and make scientific discoveries, more women will win Nobel Prizes."
Blackburn, who holds U.S. and Australian citizenship, is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Greider is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Greider, 48, said she was telephoned just before 5 a.m. her time with the news that she had won.
"It's really very thrilling, it's something you can't expect," she told The Associated Press by telephone.
People might make predictions of who might win, but one never expects it, she said, adding that "It's like the Monty Python sketch, 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!'"
Greider described the research as beginning with experiments aimed at understanding how cells work, not with the idea for certain implications for medicine.
"Funding for that kind of curiosity-driven science is really important," she said, adding that disease-oriented research isn't the only way to reach the answer, but "both together are synergistic," she said.
Blackburn, 60, said she was awakened at 2 a.m.
"Prizes are always a nice thing," she told The AP. "It doesn't change the research per se, of course, but it's lovely to have the recognition and share it with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak.
London-born Szostak, 56, has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics. He is also affiliated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"There's always some small chance that something like this might happen, so when the phone rang, I thought maybe this is it, so, sure enough," Szostak told the AP.
He said winning the prize was made sweeter because it also included Blackburn and Greider.
"When we started the work, of course, we were really just interested in the very basic question about DNA replication, how the ends of chromosomes are maintained," he said. "At the time we had no idea there would be all these later implications."
He said that since then it had become apparent that "this process of maintaining the ends of DNA molecules is very important and plays an important role in cancer and in aging, which are really still being fully worked out."
Hansson said there is a lot of work yet to do to develop therapies for blood, skin and lung disease based on the winners' breakthroughs.
He said telomerase is very active in many cancer cells, "and if you turn it off or destroy the cells which have this high activity, you could be able to treat cancer," he said.
The award includes a 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) purse split three ways among the winners, a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
The researchers have already won a series of medical honors for their research. In 2006, they shared the Lasker prize for basic medical research, often called "America's Nobel."
Some inherited diseases are now known to be caused by telomerase defects, including certain forms of congenital aplastic anemia, in which insufficient cell divisions in the stem cells of the bone marrow lead to severe anemia. Certain inherited diseases of the skin and the lungs are also caused by telomerase defects.
The Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, literature and the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced later this week, while the economics award will be presented on Oct. 12.
Prize founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite, left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.
Nobel established the prizes in his will in 1895. The first awards were handed out six years later.
