"The pursuit of
curiosity about
the basic facts
of nature has
proven, with
few exceptions
throughout the
history of
medical science,
to be the route
by which the
successful drugs
and devices of
modern medicine
were discovered."

—Arthur Kornberg
1959 Nobel Laureate
in physiology or
medicine

The Nobel Prizes, the highest honors bestowed in science, are frequently awarded to basic researchers. As instructed in Alfred Nobel's will, the prizes recognize those who, in specific fields, "have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."

Recent Nobel Laureates Supported by NIGMS
For a complete list, go to http://www.nigms.nih.gov/GMNobelists.htm

NAME		NOBEL PRIZE		OFFICIAL CITATION
Roger D. Kornberg		Chemistry 2006		For his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription.
Andrew Z. Fire & Craig C. Mello		Physiology or Medicine 2006		For the discovery of RNA interference—gene silencing by double-stranded RNA.
Avram Hershko & Irwin Rose		Chemistry 2004		For the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation [a vital cellular pathway].
Paul C. Lauterbur		Physiology or Medicine 2003		For discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging.
Roderick MacKinnon		Chemistry 2003		For discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes, specifically his structural and mechanistic studies of ion channels.
H. Robert Horvitz		Physiology or Medicine 2002		For discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.
John B. Fenn		Chemistry 2002		For the development of methods for identification and structure analyses of biological macromolecules [specifically, for techniques in mass spectrometry].
Leland H. Hartwell		Physiology or Medicine 2001		For discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle.
K. Barry Sharpless		Chemistry 2001		For work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions [a technique to selectively control the outcome of chemical reactions].

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