Two American Scientists Win Nobel Prize for RNAi Discovery

RNAi is one of the hottest subjects in medicine today. It holds untold promise for the treatment of chronic diseases and cancer. It is revolutionizing genetics and adding to our knowledge of how cells behave. Many companies are working in the field and new patents are being published almost daily.

Now, two Americans have won the 2006 Nobel Price for medicine for their discovery that RNA strands can be used to silence certain genes. Craig Mello and Andrew Fire, of The University of Massachusetts Medical School and Stanford University respectively, learned on October 2nd that they had won the 1.4 million dollar prize.

In a press release from Stanford University, Mello had this to say: "I was very surprised. At first I thought maybe they had the wrong number, or that I was dreaming. But I guess it's real."

In the same press release, Fire had this to say: "For me personally, the occasion of such an award is an opportunity to thank the many patient teachers and mentors who have opened doors to science and research, and especially my family, who have made everything possible."

Fire has also admitted to feeling "slightly guilty" because so much work had already been done in the field of RNAi, and was not acknowledged by the Nobel committee. But without the significant piece of the puzzle that Fire and Mello provided, no one could see how to put the intriguing ideas and findings to practical use.

As I understand the significance of Mello and Fire's discovery, one can picture genes as an army of "voices" controlling a cell. The voices tell the cell where to go and what to do. If that cell is a malignant cell that is presently bent on a death-causing path, silencing even one of those genes can drastically alter that path, and possibly save the organism that contains the cell. Before this RNAi discovery, it was very difficult and time-consuming to "knock out" even one gene from a cell. With RNAi, scientists can quickly identify and silence numerous abnormal genes, one at a time. The implications for diseases such as HIV, cancer, Parkinson's, and diabetes are staggering.

While some people had predicted that Fire and Mello would win, others thought were surpised that the award came so soon after the 1998 discovery. Some felt it would be years before RNAi would be acknowledged by the prestigious award.