The 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to US scientists Frances Arnold and George Smith, as well as to British researcher Sir Gregory Winter, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement on Wednesday, TASS reports.
According to the Academy, the three "harnessed the power of evolution." "The 2018 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have taken control of evolution and used it for purposes that bring the greatest benefit to humankind," the statement reads. "This year’s Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have been inspired by the power of evolution and used the same principles - genetic change and selection - to develop proteins that solve mankind’s chemical problems," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences added.
The Academy noted that in 1993, Frances Arnold "conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, which are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions... The uses of Frances Arnold’s enzymes include more environmentally friendly manufacturing of chemical substances, such as pharmaceuticals, and the production of renewable fuels for a greener transport sector."
"In 1985, George Smith developed an elegant method known as phage display, where a bacteriophage - a virus that infects bacteria - can be used to evolve new proteins. Gregory Winter used phage display for the directed evolution of antibodies, with the aim of producing new pharmaceuticals," the statement said.