The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012

                   The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012

                                      to
                        John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent

The Nobel Prize recognizes two scientists who discovered that mature, specialised cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body. Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop.

John B. Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the specialization of cells is reversible. In a classic experiment, he replaced the immature cell nucleus in an egg cell of a frog with the nucleus from a mature intestinal cell. This modified egg cell developed into a normal tadpole. The DNA of the mature cell still had all the information needed to develop all cells in the frog.

Shinya Yamanaka discovered more than 40 years later, in 2006, how intact mature cells in mice could be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells. Surprisingly, by introducing only a few genes, he could reprogram mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells, i.e. immature cells that are able to develop into all types of cells in the body.

These groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of the development and cellular specialisation. We now understand that the mature cell does not have to be confined forever to its specialised state. Textbooks have been rewritten and new research fields have been established. By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy.

Sir John Bertrand Gurdon, (born October 2, 1933) is a British developmental biologist who was the first to demonstrate that egg cells are able to reprogram differentiated (mature) cell nuclei, reverting them to a pluripotent state, in which they regain the capacity to become any type of cell. Gurdon's work ultimately came to form the foundation for major advances in cloning and stem cell research, including the generation of Dolly(the first successfully cloned mammal) by British developmental biologist Sir Ian Wilmut and the discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by Japanese physician and researcher Shinya Yamanaka��an advance that revolutionized the field of regenerative medicine. For his discoveries, Gurdon was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with Yamanaka.

Shinya Yamanaka (born September 4, 1962) is a Japanese physician and researcher of adult stem cells. He serves as the director of Center for iPS Cell Research and Application and a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University; as a senior investigator at the UCSF-affiliated J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, California; and as a professor of anatomy at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Yamanaka is also the current president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).He received the Wolf Prize in Medicine in 2011 with Rudolf Jaenisch; the Millennium Technology Prize in 2012 together with Linus Torvalds.
In 2012 he along with John Gurdon were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells.