Research & University News

This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their work in the field of protein science. Dr Baker, a professor at the University of Washington, US, has been recognised for his pioneering research in computational protein design. Drs Hassabis and Jumper, both from Google DeepMind, are credited with developing AlphaFold2, an artificial intelligence model that predicts the structure of proteins with great accuracy.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Their work has revealed an entirely new mechanism that controls gene expression, transforming our understanding of how cells regulate the production of proteins essential for their function and development.

Professors Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of vaccines against Covid-19. Their findings have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system according to the Nobel Assembly, which awards the prize.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 has been awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. Quantum dots are nanoparticles consisting of just a few thousand atoms whose size determines their properties. Their wide-ranging uses include television screens and computer monitors, LED lamps, as well as applications to illuminate tumour tissue in surgery.

The Danish government has appointed the BioInnovation Institute (BII) in Copenhagen as the site for a new project to support entrepreneurs involved in quantum science research. The initiative adds a new dimension to the institute, which was created in 2017 to advance research and enterprise in the life science industry. The institute was started by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, an independent charity which owns Novo Holdings A/S, the majority shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S. The foundation provided grant funding for the BII until 2021 when it became financially independent.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of Ghana has approved a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, UK, to prevent malaria – the first regulatory clearance for the product globally. The vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, is a subunit vaccine made up of a protein secreted by the malaria parasite and fused to a fragment of the hepatitis B virus. It is delivered alongside a plant-based adjuvant that enhances a person’s immune response. The adjuvant was developed by Novavax Inc of the US. The vaccine is being manufactured and scaled up by the Serum Institute of India PvT Ltd.

The UK medical research charity, LifeArc, is one of three donors of a £1 million award to researchers at University College London, UK, who are pioneering new therapies for motor neuron disease. This is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord resulting in a person’s loss of voluntary movement. The two other donors are the Motor Neuron Disease Association and the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.

Cancer Research Horizons, a division of the UK charity Cancer Research UK, is to work with the Karolinska Institutet over the next five years to identify new opportunities for cancer treatments and move these projects forward through industrial partnerships.

Better treatments for ischaemic stroke have come a step closer thanks to research presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC 2022) in Lyon, France in May. It has been appreciated for some time that there is a link between the intestinal microbiome and neurological development and aging, and some studies have suggested that impaired intestinal microflora can be a risk factor for stroke. Equally, an ischaemic stroke is believed to alter the composition on the intestinal microflora. Until now, however, most research in this area has been carried out in animal models.

The European Commission has created a web portal for researchers based in Ukraine as well as those who have left the country through which they can find employment, locate housing and gain recognition of their academic credentials by institutions across the EU. The ERA4Unraine portal connects more than 600 centres and 43 national portals across the union as well as countries that are not members of the EU but participate in the Horizon European research programme. The information is in English and will soon be available in Ukrainian as well.