Oliver Smithies

Facts

Oliver Smithies

© The Nobel Foundation. Photo: U. Montan

Oliver Smithies
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007

Born: 23 June 1925, Halifax, United Kingdom

Died: 10 January 2017, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Prize motivation: “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells”

Prize share: 1/3

Work

DNA carries organisms' genomes and also determines their vital processes. The ability to artificially alter DNA opens the way to both new scientific understanding and new treatment methods for various illnesses. In conjunction with attempts to find treatment methods for hereditary blood diseases, Smithies discovered that a disease-causing gene could be modified. In 1986, Smithies and Mario Capecchi were able to achieve specific modifications in the genomes of mice. By inactivating specific genes, their functions could be determined.

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