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NOBEL PRIZE

Synthetic biology and DNA sequencing in the running for Nobel Chemistry Prize

Who will win the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday? Rumours are buzzing about synthetic biology, DNA sequencing or the development of new compounds.

Published: 4 October 2023 06:20 CEST
Synthetic biology and DNA sequencing in the running for Nobel Chemistry Prize
King Carl XVI Gustaf handing the 2022 Nobel Chemistry Prize to Carolyn R Bertozzi. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

The winner or winners of the prestigious award will be unveiled by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm at 11.45am at the earliest.

Some of the top names believed to be in the running are US-based James J Collins, Michael Elowitz and Stanislas Leibler, whose work on “synthetic gene circuits” launched the field of “synthetic biology”, according to analytics group Clarivate which monitors potential science laureates.

The field combines engineering principles with biotechnology to modify or create new organisms.

However, Lars Broström, science editor at Swedish Radio, said the field could be seen as controversial, raising “ethical questions about where to draw the line in creating life”.

Also among Clarivate’s top candidates were Indian-born Shankar Balasubramanian and Briton David Klenerman, for co-inventing “the next-generation DNA sequencing methodology that has revolutionised biological research”.

Japan’s Kazunori Kataoka, along with Russian-American Vladimir P Torchilin and American Karen L Wooley are also believed to be strong candidates for the “development of innovative drug and gene targeting and delivery methods”.

Last year, the honour went to Dane Morten Meldal and Americans Carolyn Bertozzi and Barry Sharpless for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry – making Sharpless one of only five people, not counting organisations, to have won two Nobel prizes.

‘Not just a fantasy’

For Broström, a top pick this year is American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi.

“He was one of the pioneers who showed early on that a kind of customised porous material, known as MOFs (Metal-organic framework) was not just a fantasy, but something that could be made sustainable and useful,” he told AFP.

“Today, there are commercial products made of this type of material that can, among other things, absorb and decontaminate toxins, act as a catalyst or even absorb water from desert air,” he added.

Yaghi’s name has previously been floated alongside Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa and Makoto Fujita – also considered pioneers of the technology.

Stanford University chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao has also been tipped for the prize in the past.

The Chinese-American and her team have invented an “artificial electronic skin” by developing materials for stretchable circuits and flexible batteries.

Another skin-related field that could be Nobel-worthy is tissue engineering, thanks to the American trio Cato Laurencin, Kristi Anseth and Robert Langer.

On Monday, the medicine prize went to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for work on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology that paved the way for groundbreaking Covid-19 vaccines.

Lavish ceremony

The pair had been seen as contenders in both medicine and chemistry, though many commentators believed that despite the impact their work had on the pandemic it was still too early – as the juries have a tendency to wait decades before bestowing the honour.

On Tuesday, the Physics Prize was given to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for research developing ultra quick light flashes that make it possible to study electrons inside atoms and molecules.

The Chemistry Prize will be followed by the highly watched literature and peace prizes, to be announced on Thursday and Friday respectively.

For the Peace Prize, experts have been scratching their heads over possible winners, as conflicts rage around the globe.

The Economics Prize – created in 1968 and the only Nobel not included in the 1895 will of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel founding the awards – closes out the 2023 Nobel season on Monday.

Winners will receive the prize (which comes with a medal and a cheque for $1 million), from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at a lavish ceremony in Stockholm on December 10th, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred Nobel who created the prizes in his last will and testament.

Article by AFP’s Johannes Ledel

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NOBEL PRIZE

Nobel Prize to economist who explained why women earn less than men

The Nobel prize in economics was on Monday awarded to American economist Claudia Goldin for research that has helped understand the role of women in the labour market.

Published: 9 October 2023 14:16 CEST
Nobel Prize to economist who explained why women earn less than men

The 77-year-old Harvard professor, who is the third woman to be awarded the prestigious economics prize, was given the nod “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”, the jury said.

Speaking to AFP, Goldin said the prize was “important”, but there are “still large” gender inequalities on the labour market.

By studying the history of women in the US workforce, Goldin has demonstrated several factors that have historically influenced, and in some cases still influence, the supply and demand for women in the labour force, the jury explained.

“She has demonstrated that the sources of the gender gap change over time,” Nobel committee member Randi Hjalmarsson told a press conference.

Hjalmarsson added that while Goldin had not studied policy, her work had provided an “underlying foundation” that had different policy implications in different places around the world.

Globally, about 50 percent of women participate in the labour market compared to 80 percent of men, but women earn less and are less likely to reach the top of the career ladder, the prize committee noted.

The Nobel prize in economics has the fewest number of women laureates, with just two others since it was first awarded in 1969 – Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019 – and Goldin is the first woman to receive the prize as the sole laureate.

‘Detective’

Goldin has “trawled the archives and collected over 200 years of data from the US”, the jury said.

“She studied something that many people, many historians, for instance, simply decided not to study before because they didn’t think these data existed,” Hjalmarsson said in an interview, calling Goldin “a detective”.

Among other things, Goldin’s research showed that female participation in the labour force had not always followed an upward trend, and instead followed a “U-shaped curve” as the participation actually decreased with the transition from an agrarian to industrial society.

Participation then started to increase in the early 20th century with the growth of the service sector, with Goldin explaining the trends as the result of both “structural change and evolving social norms”.

The jury also noted that despite modernisation – coupled with economic growth and a rising proportion of women in the labour market – the earnings gap between men and women hardly closed for a long time.

“According to Goldin, part of the explanation is that educational decisions, which impact a lifetime of career opportunities, are made at a relatively young age,” the jury said.

While much of the earnings gap historically could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices, Goldin “has shown that the bulk of this earnings difference is now between men and women in the same occupation, and that it largely arises with the birth of the first child.”

The pill

Goldin’s work also demonstrated that access to the contraceptive pill played an important role in accelerating the increase in education levels during the 20th century, by “offering new opportunities for career planning”, the Nobel committee said.

The economics prize is the only Nobel not among the original five set out by the will of Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.

It was instead created through a donation from the Swedish central bank in 1968, and first awarded in 1969.

The economics prize wraps up this year’s Nobel season, which saw four women awarded the prestigious prize – just one shy of the record five from 2009.

On Friday, the Peace Prize went to imprisoned Iranian women’s rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi.

Earlier in the week, Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse was rewarded in literature.

The chemistry prize was awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for their work on nanoparticles called quantum dots.

In physics, Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz were honoured for using ultra-quick light flashes that enable the study of electrons inside atoms and molecules.

The medicine prize, the first to be announced, went to a duo – Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman – for their groundbreaking technology that paved the way for mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.

Article by AFP’s Johannes Ledel

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