Two Canadian scientists whose discovery of stem cells has paved the way for controversial research could be candidates for the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine, the winners of which will be announced on Monday.
Ernest McCulloch and James Till won the prestigious Lasker Award in 2005 and experts say they could also be among the front-runners for a Nobel for their early 1970’s identification of the regenerative cells. Many winners of the Lasker Award — often dubbed “America’s Nobel” — go on to win Nobel Prizes.
Given their special abilities, stem cells offer the possibility to replace damaged cells, tissues and maybe organs to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, or rheumatoid arthritis.
Growing stem cells from human eggs has long been a controversial issue, but in a recent breakthrough scientists have managed to avoid the ethical quandaries by making human stem cells from ordinary skin cells.
Other potential winners include long-standing US hopefuls Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for their enzyme research. The trio’s discovery of the telomerases enzyme set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth.
As usual, the tightlipped award committee is giving no hints about who is in the running before presenting its decision at Stockholm’s Karolinska institute.
Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden’s central bank.
Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research. The prizes are handed out every year on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s 1896 death.
