Notable Nobels

This episode covers one half of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Campbell and Satoshi the award “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites”. Topics include the pathobiology of river blindness (also called onchocerciasis), a generous act by a major pharmaceutical company, and how a golf course in Japan gave us the drug ivermectin.  

This episode covers one half of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Tu Youyou. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Tu the award “for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria”. Topics include Tu’s discovery of the anti-malarial drug artemisinin from an ancient Chinese text, the natural medicine movement, and the Vietnam War.

This episode covers the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Karikó and Weissman the award “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”. Topics include the different historical vaccine design platforms, the development of modified mRNA and ionizable lipid nanoparticles for mRNA vaccines, and the rapid roll out of the mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This episode covers the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Alter, Houghton, and Rice the award “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus”. Topics include the recognition that another hepatitis virus existed other than Hepatitis A and B viruses, the experiments that lead to the identification of the Hepatitis C virus, and antiviral drugs that cure chronic Hepatitis C virus infections. 

This episode covers one half of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Baruch S. Blumberg. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Blumberg the award “for [his] discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases”. Topics include the unusual research route that led Blumberg to the Hepatitis B virus, the discovery of a link between Hepatitis B and liver cancer, and strategies to prevent and cure chronic Hepatitis B virus infections.

This episode covers one half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Harald zur Hausen. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give zur Hausen the award “for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer”. Topics include the use of Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer, zur Hausen’s discovery of HPV DNA in cervical cancer cells, and the development of highly effective HPV vaccines.

This episode covers one half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Montagnier and Barré-Sinoussi the award “for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus”. Topics include how the AIDS pandemic unfolded at the start of the 1980s, the work scientists did to discover the virus behind the pandemic, the ongoing search for an HIV vaccine, and some of the novel strategies scientists are testing to find a cure for HIV infections.

This episode covers the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, and Howard Temin. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Baltimore, Dulbecco, and Temin the award “for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of the cell”. Topics include the identification of Rous Sarcoma Virus as the first known retrovirus, the discovery of an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that can synthesize a DNA copy of a molecule of RNA, and how reverse transcriptase has become an essential tool for solving some of biology’s biggest problems.

This episode covers the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Bishop and Varmus the award “for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes”. Topics include Bishop and Varmus’ discovery of the first cellular proto-oncogene c-src, how the discovery of that gene lead to a fundamental shift in our understanding of the essence of cancer, and Beowulf.

This episode covers one half of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Peyton Rous. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Rous the award “for his discovery of tumor-inducing viruses”. Topics include Rous’ discovery of a virus that caused cancer in chickens, how that sparked a search for cancer-causing viruses in humans, and the discovery of Epstein-Barr virus, the first virus linked to a human cancer.