One German and two French scientists won
the 2008 Nobel prize in medicine for their work in uncovering the virus
responsible for Aids as well as for their effort into the cause of cervical
cancer.
Harald zur Hausen, of Germany,
received the prize for making the link between the HPV and cervical cancer.
Hausen’s discovery of the human papilloma virus led to an understanding of the
causes of cervical cancer.
Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier
of France
were awarded the prize for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or
HIV. The Nobel Assembly said their discovery was vital in enabling scientists
to begin to understand the biology of a virus which continues to pose a huge
public health threat throughout the globe. Their work led to the development of
new treatments and new methods to diagnose infected patients.
The German scientist received half of the
$1.4 million US prize, while the two French scientists split the other half, Sweden’s
Karolinska Institute said.
The two viruses have caused "great suffering," Professor Bjorn
Vennstrom of the Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute, told
Swedish radio.
Asked why US researcher Robert Gallo - who was engaged in a
long-running debate with Montagnier over the HIV discovery - was not
included in the prize, Bertil Fredholm, head of the Nobel Committee at
the Karolinska Institute, told reporters that the groundbreaking
research "had been made in France."
German researcher Harald zur Hausen on Monday said he was
excited to hear the news he had won the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
"I'm really pleased. I'm also happy for my assistants, who all played a
major role," he said in Heidelberg
where he toasted his success with a glass of champagne. "I sometimes thought about (the Nobel prize), because I knew I'd often
been recommended for it. But I really didn't expect to get it."
German Minister for Research and Science Annette Schavan on
Monday congratulated Harald zur Hausen, who was awarded Nobel Prize for
Medicine for discovering a virus causing cervical cancer.
Zur Hausen was a "extra-ordinary scientist", said
Schavan, adding the award was an exemplary recognition for German research and
paying tribute to Germany
front role in the research of cancer.
Schavan stressed that, as head of the German Cancer Research
CXentre in Heidelberg,
zur Hausen had provided the foundations for important research institutions.
Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated
Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.
After extending his "heartiest congratulations," in his own name and
that of the nation, Sarkozy noted, in a statement released by his office, that
it was the first Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to a French team since 1980.
"The discovery of the AIDS virus at the beginning of the 1980s marked the
start of a period of intense research that led to the creation of
anti-retrovirus treatments," Sarkozy said. "Today millions of people
around the world are benefiting from these treatments."
The French president went on to say that the award "honours all of French
and European medicine and biomedical research."
Medicine is traditionally the first of the
Nobel prizes to be awarded every year. The medicine prize was the first of the
six prestigious awards to be announced this year.
The others are chemistry,
physics, literature, peace and economics. The Nobel prize was first awarded in Peace,
Literature, Chemistry, Physiology, or Medicine and Physics in 1901. The
economics prize was created by Sweden’s
central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in medicine was
awarded to American researchers Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Briton
Martin Evans for their work on RNA interference, a technique that manipulates
genes in mice.
