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Published online 5 October 2009 | 461, 706-707 (2009) | doi:10.1038/461706a
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Chromosome protection scoops Nobel
Prize for physiology or medicine awarded for uncovering role of telomeres.
Three US scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure of molecular caps called telomeres and working out how they protect chromosomes from degradation. Their discoveries in cell biology during the 1980s and 1990s opened new avenues of work, in ageing and in cancer research, which are still highly active today.
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Congratulation to team for innovative,path braking research.Solution for cancer & ageing lies in this discovery.Further research in this direction is need of the hour.
Anurag chaurasia,ICAR,India,anurag@nbaim.org,
anurag_vns1@yahoo.co.in, +919452196686
what about Olovnikov's theory (1971, 1973) who predicted the end-replication problem etc.?
again... policy and politics...
First idea about this mechanism was here:
1. Olovnikov A.M. Principle of marginotomy in template synthesis of polynucleotides, Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR. 1971;201(6):1496-9
2. Olovnikov A.M. A theory of marginotomy. The incomplete copying of template margin in enzymic synthesis of polynucleotides and biological significance of the phenomenon. J Theor Biol. 1973 Sep 14;41(1):181-90.
The most strange thing is not that Prof. Olovnikov, the person who has proposed the theory for the role of telomeres for the first time, was not mentioned at the Noble award. It is OK that the Noble prize is given to the experimentalists who have proved his theory, not to the theoretician himself. What I do not really understand, is how it is possible, that three experimental articles cited above (for which the Noble prize was awarded) have passed through the peer review and have been published without citing the previous work of Olovnikov. Is it considered that the Journal of Theoretical Biology is not a respected Journal?
Olovnikov A.M. A theory of marginotomy. The incomplete copying of template margin in enzymic synthesis of polynucleotides and biological significance of the phenomenon. J Theor Biol. 1973 Sep 14;41(1):181-90.
Really an exciting discovery. Congratulations to all.
Really an exciting discovery. Congratulations to all.
It is like a step we moved forward in the area of Stem Cell Research and that is accepted by our society.
Congratulation to whole team.
First, congratulations to all of the scientists involved in this deserved and wonderful prize.
However, at a time when the political climate of the U.S.A is embracing multilateral action and acknowledgment of international neighbors, it saddens me to see no mention of Elizabeth Blackburn's international flavor in this article. Pardon my French but Lizzie's as Australian as Vegemite, and trained in Cambridge! Note also that Szostak is UK-born and Candian trained.
Granted, space is limited and the scientists live in the U.S.A and made their discoveries there. But surely the image Nature wants to project is one of neutrality, collegiality and due recognition of America's rich multicultural background.
Imagine if there was no mention of the American nationality of a Nobel prize winner living/working abroad. I assure you it would be
scandalous.
Shape up Nature – you are an international science journal, not Fox News.