Trio win Nobel Chemistry Prize for research harnessing evolution

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STOCKHOLM, Oct 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US scientists Frances Arnold and George
Smith and British researcher Gregory Winter won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on
Wednesday for applying the principles of evolution to develop enzymes used to
make everything from biofuels to pharmaceuticals, the jury said.

Arnold, just the fifth woman to win the Nobel Chemistry Prize, won one
half of the nine million Swedish kronor (about $1.01 million or 870,000
euros) award, while Smith and Winter shared the other half.

“The 2018 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have taken control of evolution and
used it for purposes that bring the greatest benefit to humankind,” the
Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences said.

The trio used the same principles of evolution — genetic change and
selection — to develop proteins used in a range of fields.

“They have applied the principles of Darwin in test tubes. They have used
the molecular understanding we have of the evolutionary process and recreated
the process in their labs,” the head of the Academy’s Nobel Chemistry
committee, Claes Gustafsson, told reporters.

“They have been able to make evolution many 1000s of times faster and
redirect it to create new proteins.”

Arnold, 62, is a professor of chemical engineering at the California
Institute of Technology. Her work has made it possible to solve problems such
as replacing toxic chemicals like fossil fuels.

Her method of creating new proteins with desired properties is being used
to convert renewable resources like sugar cane into biofuels, and to make
more environmentally friendly chemical substances, improving everyday
products such as laundry and dishwashing detergents to enhance their
performance in cold temperatures.

Smith, of the University of Missouri, and Winter, 67, of the MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge, meanwhile developed an “elegant
method” known as phage display, where a bacteriophage — a virus that infects
bacteria — can be used to evolve new proteins, the jury said.

Pharmaceuticals for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel
diseases have resulted from their research, as well as anti-bodies that can
neutralise toxins, counteract autoimmune diseases and cure metastatic cancer.