The Last Decade of Nobel in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize - an annual tradition which started in Sweden in the year 1901 by Sir Alfred Nobel to award the most notable achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics. It is an award coveted by scientists across the board. 100 Nobels have been awarded in Physiology since 1901 to 195 individuals of which 10 are women. No Nobel in Physiology was awarded during World war I and World war II. Here I enumerate the advances in Physiology or Medicine in the last decade which have captured the Nobel.

2009 - awarded to E.H. Blackburn, C.W. Greider and J.W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase".

2008 - awarded to H. zur Hausen "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer", to F.B. Sinnoussi and L. Montagnier "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus".

2007 - awarded to M. R. Capecchi, Sir M. J. Evans and O. Smithies "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells".


2006 - awarded to A. Z. Fire and C. C. Mello   "for their discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA".


2005 - awarded to B. J. Marshall and J. R. Warren "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease".


2004 - awarded to R. Axel and L.B. Buck "for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system".
 
2003 - awarded to P. C. Lauterbur and Sir P. Mansfield "for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging".


2002 - awarded to S. Brenner, H.R. Horvitz and J.E. Sulston "for their discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'".


2001 - awarded to L. H. Hartwell, T. Hunt and Sir P. M. Nurse "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle".


2000 - awarded to A. Carlsson, E. R. Kandell and P. Greengard "for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system".


1999 - awarded to G. Blobel "for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell".