An American and two British researchers won this year’s Nobel prize in medicine or physiology for discoveries concerning how genes regulate organ development and a process of cell suicide. South African-born Sydney Brenner, 75, and John E. Sulston, 60, of Britain and American H. Robert Horvitz, 55, shared the prize, worth 10 million Kronor (US$1 million).The laureates have identified key genes regulating organ development and programmed cell death. The discoveries have shed new light on the development of many diseases, including aids, neuro-degenerative diseases and strokes.The announcement opened a week of Nobel prizes that culminates Friday with the prestigious peace prize, the only one revealed in Oslo, Norway.Brenner, a researcher at the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California, demonstrated that different mutations could be linked to specific genes and to specific effects on organ development. Working with worms, Sulston of Cambridge identified the first mutation of a gene participating in the cell death process. Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed how corresponding genes exist in humans.The Physics award will be announced on Tuesday and the Chemistry and Economics awards on Wednesday. As in years past, the date for the literature prize has not been set.
