The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

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Second Scientific Advisory Council member wins Nobel prize

 

A second member of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s International Scientific Advisory Council has this week been awarded a 2009 Nobel Prize.

Professor Tom Steitz, a member of the council since 2002, was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday. His award came two days after Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, who has been a council member since 1998, was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Professor Doug Hilton, director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, today extended his congratulations to Professor Steitz after earlier this week acknowledging Professor Blackburn’s outstanding scientific contribution.

Professor Steitz’s Nobel Prize, shared with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Ada Yonath, was awarded for his work on ribosomes, the protein-making factories within cells.

Professor Hilton said Professor Steitz’s Nobel Prize showed how discoveries in one field of science – in this case, chemistry – could resonate across many fields of scientific endeavour.

“Professor Steitz’s work led to the creation of three-dimensional models that show how different antibiotics bind to ribosomes. These models are now used to develop new antibiotics, which has brought enormous benefits for humanity through treating infection.

“This translation of basic research is precisely the model we are following at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. We are making the basic discoveries and, with our collaborators, developing them into the next generation of treatments for patients with a host of debilitating diseases.”

Professor Jerry Adams, co-head of the institute’s Molecular Genetics of Cancer division and a friend of Professor Steitz, described the ribosome discovery as “monumental”.

“The ribosome has the absolutely crucial role of translating our genetic information into the thousands of protein molecules that carry out each of the specialized functions within all of our cells,” Professor Adams said. “This remarkable factory for protein assembly is enormous, so attempting to determine its structure initially seemed hopeless. Nevertheless, after many years of dedicated work, Thomas Steitz and the other two prize winners managed to define its complete three-dimensional structure at atomic resolution and to reveal how each of its components act on the protein assembly line.”

Professor Blackburn was awarded her Nobel Prize for her role in the discovery, in the mid-1980s, of telomerase — an enzyme that repairs the ends of our chromosomes. Most cancer cells have high levels of telomerase, so Professor Blackburn’s work has opened up a new area of inquiry into potential cancer treatments.

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