Breakthrough Prize 2019
The winners of the most "expensive" scientific prize in the world have been announced
Anatoly Glossev, Vesti
(read more about the awards in the field of sciences "not about life" in the original message – VM)
The names of the winners of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize, established by Russian businessman Yuri Milner together with Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey, have become known Brin. The nine main laureates will share 22 million US dollars among themselves. In addition, an additional prize and the New Horizons Prize will be awarded.
The prize in the field of life sciences was awarded to Frank Bennett from Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Adrian Krainer from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory "for the development of effective antisense oligonucleotide therapy for children with the neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy."
In the same nomination, Angelika Amon from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was awarded "for determining the consequences of aneuploidy – an abnormal number of chromosomes resulting from improper chromosome separation."
In the same field, Xiaowei Zhuang from Harvard University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute received the award "for the discovery of hidden structures in cells by developing ultra–high-resolution imaging - a method that exceeded the fundamental limit of spatial resolution of optical microscopy."
Finally, the last biologist to receive the award was Zhijian Chen from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute "for finding out how DNA causes immune and autoimmune reactions from inside the cell by discovering the DNA-sensitive enzyme cGAS."
[…]
We will briefly tell you about the works awarded with the prize.
Frank Bennett and Adrian Krainer. "For the development of effective antisense oligonucleotide therapy for children with neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy."
Spinal muscular atrophy is a rare genetic disease that until recently was considered absolutely fatal. Children with this pathology rarely lived more than a year. This was the case until the laureates developed their own drug, which was approved for use in the USA in 2016.
His work is based on antisense therapy. By this concept is meant the suppression of protein synthesis responsible for the development of pathology. It occurs due to the fact that short fragments of RNA, the so-called oligonucleotides, cling to the matrix RNA (mRNA), which plays the role of instructions for protein synthesis. As a result, the "instruction" changes and loses its meaning, hence the name of the therapy.
The revolutionary work of biologists has also paved the way for new methods of treating diseases Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and other pathologies.
Angelica Amon. "For determining the consequences of aneuploidy – an abnormal number of chromosomes resulting from improper chromosome separation."
Changes in the number of chromosomes in a cell usually lead to serious consequences. If this happens at the stage of embryonic development, the result may be a miscarriage, Down syndrome, and so on. The situation is no better with somatic cells: in 80% of types of oncology, cancer cells have an abnormal number of chromosomes.
Amon demonstrated why this is happening. She discovered that a disorder that leads to a change in the number of chromosomes destroys the error correction system when copying DNA during cell division. As a result, cells quickly accumulate mutations and "go crazy": they die, become cancerous or acquire other pathologies.
Perhaps the work of the laureate will be the key to new methods of cancer treatment.
Xiaowei Zhuang. "For the discovery of hidden structures in cells by developing ultra–high-resolution imaging, a method that exceeded the fundamental limit of spatial resolution of optical microscopy."
As you know, the resolution, or the ability to distinguish small details, of a conventional optical microscope is limited for fundamental reasons (light has a wavelength other than zero). And scientists really need to consider in detail the processes taking place inside a living cell. A family of ingenious techniques comes to the rescue, united under the common name microscopy with ultra-high resolution (super-resolution microscopy).
Zhuang came up with one of these methods. It is based on the complex behavior of fluorescent substances. By controlling the process in a special way, it is possible to ensure that different groups of molecules "flash" at different points in time. In this way, it is possible to distinguish between small details that merge when observed in a conventional microscope.
Zhuang's brainchild allowed the discovery of intracellular structures, the size of which is ten thousand times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. In particular, in this way periodic "lattices" in the membranes of nerve cells of the brain were identified.
Zhijian Chen. "For elucidating how DNA triggers immune and autoimmune reactions from inside the cell, by discovering the DNA-sensitive enzyme cGAS."
The research of this laureate is connected with the work of our natural defenders – immune cells. He showed how their reaction to the appearance of a foreign microorganism and other influences is triggered.
It turned out that T-lymphocytes and leukocytes "turn on combat mode", having stumbled upon a DNA molecule. To do this, they have a special sensitive protein. However, sometimes this DNA does not belong to a virus or another uninvited guest, but to the body's own cells. With such failures, autoimmune diseases such as lupus develop.
Chen's work can help, on the one hand, more effectively "cooperate" with the immune system in the treatment of diseases, including cancer, and on the other hand, curb it when it "attacks its own".
[…]
It is expected that the awarding of all the laureates will take place on November 4, 2018.
Recall that the mentioned awards were established in 2012-2013.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru