瑞典科学家斯万特·帕博因发现“尼安德特人”基因组而获诺贝尔医学奖
今年的诺贝尔医学奖被授予一位瑞典科学家，以表彰他解码尼安德特人(Neanderthal)的脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)。尼安德特人是现代人类已经灭绝的近亲。
诺贝尔奖组织(Nobel Organization)周一(10月3日)在一份声明中表示，斯万特·帕博(Svante Paabo)因“开创了一种研究我们进化历史的新方法”而荣获诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。
该组织表示，这位67岁的瑞典人克服了处理脆弱的古老DNA样本的极端技术挑战，成功地获取了尼安德特人的基因组序列。
声明说：“此后，他还令人惊叹地发现了另一种灭绝的古人类——丹尼索瓦人(Denisova)。他的证据完全来自于从一个小小的指骨标本中获取的基因组数据。”
帕博的研究证明，智人(Homo sapiens)、尼安德特人和丹尼索瓦人曾经“在共存时期”内混合在一起，从而导致古老人类的DNA被包含在当今的人类中。
帕博隶属于德国莱比锡的马克斯·普朗克进化人类学研究所(Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)和日本冲绳的冲绳科学技术研究所(Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology)。
诺贝尔生理学或医学奖是本周颁发的五个诺贝尔奖项中的第一个。宣布诺贝尔奖得主的活动将在周五达到高潮，届时今年诺贝尔和平奖的归属将会揭晓。宣布经济学奖获得者的日期是10月10日。 经济学奖是唯一不是根据瑞典发明家阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔(Alfred Nobel)的遗嘱设立的奖项。
正式的诺贝尔奖颁奖典礼将于12月在瑞典斯德哥尔摩举行。诺贝尔和平奖颁奖典礼的地点是挪威奥斯陆。
Nobel Medicine Prize Winner Discovered the Neanderthal Genome
This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to a Swedish scientist for decoding the DNA of the Neanderthal, modern humans’ closet extinct relative.
In a statement Monday the Nobel Organization said Svante Paabo is being honored “for pioneering a new approach to study our evolutionary history.”
The 67-year-old Swede overcame the extreme technical challenges of handling fragile, ancient DNA samples to succeed in obtaining the genome sequence, the organization said.
“This was followed,” according to the statement, “by his sensational discovery of another extinct hominin, the Denisova, entirely from genome data retrieved from a small finger bone specimen.”
Paabo’s work proved that Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans mixed “during periods of co-existence,” resulting in the inclusion of archaic DNA in present-day humans.”
Paabo is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, in Okinawa, Japan.
The prize for Medicine is the first of five to be awarded this week, which will culminate with the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The Economics Prize follows on October 10. It is the only prize not created under Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel’s will.
The formal Nobel Prize ceremony will be held in December in Stockholm.