For paleogenetics

The winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine — 2022 became known

Maria Azarova, Naked Science

The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm named the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2022. Svante became it Paabo, a 67-year-old Swedish biologist and head of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany).

Among the achievements of the scientist (and, by the way, the son of a biochemist Sune Bergstrom, laureate Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1982) — sequencing of the entire genome of a Neanderthal; a study of DNA extracted from a bone fragment found in the Denisova cave in Altai, as a result of which the Paabo team concluded that about 40 thousand years ago Denisovans, Homo denisovensis.

"Svante Paabo has done something seemingly impossible: sequenced the genome of a Neanderthal, an extinct relative of modern man. He also made a sensational discovery of a previously unknown hominid — Denisov man. Paabo also discovered that gene transfer occurred from these now extinct hominids to Homo sapiens after migration from Africa about 70 thousand years ago. This ancient gene transfer to modern humans has physiological significance today: for example, by influencing how our immune system reacts to infections," explained their decision in Stockholm.

Paabo's research laid the foundation for the emergence of a new scientific discipline — paleogenetics.

Tomorrow we will find out who won the Nobel Prize in physics, on the sixth — in chemistry, on the seventh — in literature. The Peace Prize will be awarded on October 8, and the "Prize of the Swedish State Bank for Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel" — on the 11th.

The Nobel Prizes are named after their founder, the Swedish engineer, chemist, entrepreneur and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel. Since the beginning of the XX century, they have been awarded for achievements in such important fields as medicine and physiology, chemistry, literature, physics and for "outstanding contribution to the cause of strengthening peace" on the planet. In 1969, the economy was added to the list.

The prize in physiology or medicine is awarded annually to researchers (no more than three people) who, according to the commission, have made the most important breakthrough in this field. In total, it has been awarded 113 times since 1901. Last year, physiologist David Julius and Armenian-American molecular biologist Ardem Pataputyan became laureates. This is how their "discovery of temperature and touch receptors" was noted.

In recent years, the coronavirus pandemic has made its own adjustments to the Nobel Week and award ceremonies: some events were canceled and transferred online or a limited number of people were invited.

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