Notable Nobels

This episode covers one half of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Mechnikov the award “in recognition of [his] work on immunity”. Topics include a description of phagocytosis, Mechnikov’s experiments with phagocytic cells of the immune system, and the remarkable ways cells like macrophages and neutrophils attack harmful bacteria.

This special episode covers the facts and history of the Nobel Prizes. Topics include the founding of the Nobel Prizes by Alfred Nobel, how Nobel Prize winners are selected, what you win if you win the Nobel Prize, the details of the Nobel Prize ceremony, qualities and demographics of Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, and some predictions about the future of the Nobel Prizes.

This episode covers the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Stanley B. Prusiner. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Prusiner the award “for his discovery of Prions - a new biological principle of infection”. Topics include the work Prusiner did to define prion diseases, the amazing molecular nature of how prion diseases spread, and mad cow disease.

This episode covers one half of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to D. Carleton Gajdusek. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Gajdusek the award “for [his] discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases”. Topics include the Kuru neurodegenerative disease, the discovery of a new category of infectious diseases, and cannibalism.

This episode covers one half of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Elion and Hitchings the award, “for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment”. Topics include the discovery of the antiviral drug acyclovir, how acyclovir works to treat herpes simplex virus infections, and the rational approach to drug discovery.

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.