The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Sydney Brenner, Robert Horvitz and John Sulston for their discoveries concerning “genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death”.
By using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system, the Laureates have identified key genes regulating these processes. They have also shown that corresponding genes exist in higher species, including man.
This year´s Nobel Laureates have identified key genes regulating organ development and programmed cell death in the nematode C. elegans. They have also shown that corresponding genes controlling these processes exist in humans.