Geneticists and stem cell scientists win prestigious awards

Two UK geneticists and two Canadian biologists will share the 2005 Lasker awards for Clinical Medical Research and Basic Medical Research respectively, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation has announced. Edwin Southern and Alec Jeffreys will be honoured for developing new techniques to study DNA, both of which have revolutionised the field of human genetics. And Ernest McCulloch and James Till will receive the award for their discovery of bone marrow stem cells - the first type of stem cell to be identified. The prestigious prizes, which have been referred to as 'America's Nobels', will be presented at a ceremony in New York this Friday.    

Edwin Southern developed a technique known as 'Southern blotting' in the 1970s, which allowed geneticists to transfer DNA to a filter, so that individual pieces of DNA can be analysed in detail. When studying the results of one such experiment a few years later, Alec Jeffreys discovered DNA 'fingerprints'- sections of human DNA that reveal a unique profile. DNA profiling has since become a key technique in forensic, medical and paternity testing laboratories.

'I couldn't have done this without Ed Southern's technology', Jeffries told the Scientist magazine, adding 'I think Ed's quite pleased that the technology has been put to such good use'. Southern and Jeffries work received the clinical research award because of its 'implications for identifying aspects about human biology', according to Joseph Goldstein, chair of the jury that picks the winners. Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the UK's Medical Research Council (MRC) said: 'Both scientists have been part of the MRC 'family' of scientists for many years and this award is a powerful endorsement of their contribution to medical research'.

Ernest McCulloch and James Till were working on the effects of radiation on cells in the 1960s, when they noticed 'bumps' on the spleens of irradiated mice injected with bone marrow cells. They discovered that the bumps were groups of self-renewing cells capable of growing into different sorts of blood cells, and the field of stem cell science was born. 'We had the happy situation of accidentally coming across something important and correctly interpreting it', said Till. David Scadden, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, said that Till and McCulloch were chosen 'in recognition that the stem cell biology world is starting to explode'.

A fifth award, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, will go to Nancy Brinker, for starting the Susan J Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The US charity has raised $750 million towards research, education, early diagnosis and treatments for breast cancer. Past recipients of the Lasker awards include 70 scientists who went on to win the Nobel prize, and Goldstein says the list of winners provides 'an incredible historical record of medical research over the past 60 years'.