"Father of Stem Cell Research” Wins Nobel Prize

Sir Martin Evans has been awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for 2007, alongside Professor Mario R. Capecchi and Professor Oliver Smithies, for their discoveries of the principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.

Widely acclaimed as the father of stem cell research in the United Kingdom (UK), Sir Martin won the Nobel Prize for his work in gene targeting, a technique used to inactivate single genes. With gene targeting it is now possible to produce almost any type of DNA modification in the mouse genome, allowing scientists to establish the roles of individual genes in health and disease. Gene targeting has already produced more than five hundred different mouse models of human disorders, including cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative diseases, diabetes, and cancer. These gene experiments have elucidated the roles of numerous genes in embryonic development, adult physiology, ageing, and disease. To date, more than ten thousand mouse genes (approximately half of the genes in the mammalian genome) have been "knocked out”.

The cell types initially studied by Capecchi and Smithies could not be used to create gene-targeted animals. Sir Martin Evans discovered that chromosomally normal cell cultures could be established directly from early mouse embryos. These cells are now referred to as embryonic stem (ES) cells. He then developed ways to culture ES cells derived from the mouse blastocyst--the ball of cells formed after fertilization. The technique paved the way for targeted genetic manipulation and experimental mammalian genetics; tools used everyday by scientists in their efforts to understand the influence genes have on disease development.

The winners of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for 2007 are:

Sir Martin J. Evans, Ph.D., former director of the school of biosciences and professor of mammalian genetics at Cardiff University (UK). Sir Martin Evans was knighted for services to medical science in 2004.

Professor Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D., professor of human genetics and biology at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT, USA).

Professor Oliver Smithies, Ph.D., professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, USA).


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Cardiff University
University of Utah
University of North Carolina