WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., OCTOBER 2, 2006 – The March of Dimes congratulates Craig Mello, PhD, professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a former March of Dimes Basil O'Connor grantee, on sharing this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
The Nobel Committee announced today that Dr. Mello, with Andrew Fire, PhD, of the Stanford University School of Medicine, has been honored for discovery of “RNA interference” -- gene silencing by double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA).
The March of Dimes supported Dr. Mello's early work on RNA interference.
“This honor underscores the importance of basic research in understanding development,” said Michael Katz, M.D., senior vice president for research and global programs at the March of Dimes.
Drs. Mello and Fire experimented with RNA in a millimeter-long worm, finding that specially constructed dsRNA can silence expression of specific genes. This is now known to be one of the ways in which cells naturally regulate expression of their own genes.
Using RNA interference techniques, scientists now can quash the expression of one or more genes in experimental animals at any stage of development, to clarify how and when some birth defects and other disorders develop. RNA interference also holds promise for treating diseases caused by harmful human genes, or by infectious organisms whose normal genes might be selectively shut down.
Dr. Mello received a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award to support his work from 1996-1998. The award is designed to help young scientists, who hold recent faculty appointments, begin their independent research careers.
The March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. For more information, visit marchofdimes.com or nacersano.org for Spanish.
