. 24/7 Space News .
SPACE TRAVEL
Chinese herbal expert among Nobel medicine prize winners
By Pia OHLIN
Stockholm (AFP) Oct 5, 2015


A trio of scientists earned the 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for unlocking revolutionary treatments for malaria and roundworm, helping to roll back two parasitic diseases that blight millions of lives.

Tu Youyou of China won half of the award for her work on artemisinin, an anti-malarial drug based on ancient Chinese herbal medicine, the Nobel jury announced.

She is the first Chinese woman national to win a Nobel prize in science, and only the 12th woman to win the medicine prize among the 210 laureates honoured since 1901.

Irish-born William Campbell and Satoshi Omura of Japan shared the other half for an anti-roundworm treatment dubbed avermectin, derived from soil-dwelling bacteria.

"These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually," the Nobel committee said.

"The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable."

Tu, 84, has been chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine since 2000.

She conducted research in the 1970s, at the height of China's Cultural Revolution, that led to the discovery of artemisinin, a drug that has slashed the number of malaria deaths.

- Traditional medicine -

The treatment is based on traditional medicine -- a herb called sweet wormwood or Artemisia annua.

Artemisinin-based drugs are now the standard combination for treating malaria since the mosquito-transferred Plasmodium parasite developed resistance to other drug types like chloroquine.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were about 198 million malaria infections in 2013 and 584,000 deaths -- most of them African children.

Social media users in China saw the award as a source of national pride for the country.

"Nobel Prize, good. More international achievements recognised globally represent China's rise," read one post on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.

The other half of the prize honoured Omura and Campbell for "a new class of drugs with extraordinary efficacy against parasitic diseases," the Nobel statement said.

Registered drugs derived from avermectin "have radically lowered" the incidence of river blindness and elephantiasis, both caused by parasitic worms, it added.

- River blindness -

River blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, is caused by a worm transmitted to humans through the bites of infected blackflies. Its symptoms include disfiguring skin conditions and visual impairment, including permanent blindness.

More than 99 percent of those affected by it live in Africa.

Elephantiasis, or lymphatic filariasis, is a mosquito-borne infection which causes grotesque and disfiguring swelling of the limbs.

Omura, a microbiologist, isolated new strains of a group of bacteria called Streptomyces, and successfully cultured them in the lab.

Campbell, a research fellow emeritus at Drew University in New Jersey in the United States, was born in Ramelton in County Donegal in northwest Ireland.

His role was to show that a component from one of Omura's cultures was active against parasites -- this became avermectin.

Campbell, who made his discovery while working for pharmaceutical group Merck, thought he might be the victim of a prank when the committee called to tell him he had won.

"You must be kidding!" the 85-year-old told the Nobel Foundation.

"First thing I did was to ask for a way to verify that this could be genuine because it just seemed impossible," he said, adding that he only believed it after checking the Nobel website.

"I humbly accept the prize," 80-year-old Omura, a professor emeritus at Kitasato University, said in an interview with the Nobel Foundation.

He thanked the "many, many researchers" who had contributed to his findings, saying he was "very, very lucky".

Juleen Zierath, the head of the Nobel committee, said she believed Swedish scientist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel -- who created the awards in his 1895 will, to be given to those who "have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" -- would have been pleased with this year's choice of laureates.

- 'Saving lives' -

"I think we have examples here that have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. These therapies, they save lives, they prevent disability, and they prevent the spread of infection. And they also improve the life, the well-being of individuals and economic growth. So I think this is a great example. Nobel would have been happy," she told the Nobel Foundation.

This year's Nobel laureates will share the prize of eight million Swedish kronor (about $950,000 or 855,000 euros).

The Nobel awards week continues with the announcement of the prize for physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.

The peace prize will be awarded in Oslo on Friday, with the economics prize wrapping up the Nobel season next Monday.

The laureates will receive their prizes at formal ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel.

po/mfp

Weibo


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
SPACE TRAVEL
India PM heads to Silicon Valley chasing a digital dream
New Delhi (AFP) Sept 24, 2015
He has 30 million fans on Facebook and tweets multiple times a day - but as Narendra Modi visits Silicon Valley this weekend, it is Indian technology that will be centre-screen. India's social media-addicted prime minister is looking to tap investors' pockets on the trip and win support from the Valley giants to burnish his Digital India campaign. "India is emerging as a hub of start-up ... read more


SPACE TRAVEL
Space startup confirms plans for robotic moon landings

Asteroids found to be the moon's main 'water supply'

Russian scientist hope to get rocket fuel, water, oxygen from Lunar ice

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Dance with Eclipses

SPACE TRAVEL
Rock samples from Western US teach how to hunt for life on Mars

Students Advance Mars Airplane Concept

Curiosity's Drill Hole and Location are Picture Perfect

Search for Mars life stymied by contamination threat

SPACE TRAVEL
NASA Selects Investigations for Future Key Planetary Mission

Chinese herbal expert among Nobel medicine prize winners

Down to Earth and walking the line

Next stop for the Perlan 2 Glider: The edge of space

SPACE TRAVEL
Exhibition on "father of Chinese rocketry" opens in U.S.

The First Meeting of the U.S.-China Space Dialogue

China's new carrier rocket succeeds in 1st trip

China launches new type of carrier rocket: state media

SPACE TRAVEL
NASA extends Boeing contract for International Space Station

Russian launches cargo spaceship to the ISS

Successful re-entry of H-II Transfer Vehicle Kounotori5

NASA Selects Five New Flight Directors to Lead Mission Control

SPACE TRAVEL
Arianespace signs ARSAT to launch a new satellite for Argentina

Ariane 5 orbits Sky Muster and ARSAT-2

A satellite launcher for the Middle East

45th Space Wing supports ULA's 100th launch

SPACE TRAVEL
The Most Stable Source of Light in the World

Earth-class planets likely have protective magnetic fields, aiding life

Stellar atmosphere can be used to predict the composition of rocky exoplanets

Watching an exoplanet in motion around a distant star

SPACE TRAVEL
Thousand-fold fluorescence enhancement in an all-polymer thin film

Australian broadband satellite begins post-launch maneuvers

ESA entrusts Indra with data storage for the Sentinel 2B satellite

WPI team recovers rare earths from electric and hybrid vehicle motors









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.