AP Features, October 8th, 2007
Excerpts from the citation awarding the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine to U.S. citizens Mario R. Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Briton Sir Martin J. Evans for groundbreaking discoveries that led to a technology known as gene targeting in mice.
The process has helped scientists develop models on mice of human disorders heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
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Gene targeting is often used to inactivate single genes. Such gene "knockout" experiments have elucidated the roles of numerous genes in embryonic development, adult physiology, aging and disease. To date, more than 10,000 mouse genes (approximately half of the genes in the mammalian genome) have been knocked out. Ongoing international efforts will make "knockout mice" for all genes available within the near future.
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With gene targeting it is now possible to produce almost any type of DNA modification in the mouse genome, allowing scientists to establish the roles of individual genes in health and disease. Gene targeting has already produced more than 500 different mouse models of human disorders, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and cancer.
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Gene targeting has helped us understand the roles of many hundreds of genes in mammalian fetal development. Capecchi's research has uncovered the roles of genes involved in mammalian organ development and in the establishment of the body plan. His work has shed light on the causes of several human inborn malformations.
Evans applied gene targeting to develop mouse models for human diseases. He developed several models for the inherited human disease cystic fibrosis and has used these models to study disease mechanisms and to test the effects of gene therapy.
Smithies also used gene targeting to develop mouse models for inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis and the blood disease thalassemia. He has also developed numerous mouse models for common human diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis.
