Stockholm, Oct 5 (DPA) Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak of the US have won this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine, it was announced in Stockholm Monday.
The three scientists solved a fundamental problem in biology on “how chromosomes can be copied in a complete way and how they are protected against degradation”, the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute said.
The statement said the trio were cited for the discovery of “how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase”.
The discovery had “stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies”, the Nobel Assembly said.
The medicine prize is the first of the 2009 Nobel awards to be announced.
