2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf] (opens in new tab)

(nobelprize.org)

82 pointssounddetective9y ago30 comments

30 comments

I wish they'd rename the prize to "Nobel Prize in Fundamental Biology". Medicine is important but this is clearly a fundamental biology discovery.

jhbadger9y ago

Yes and no. You can argue that genetics of autophagy are fundamental but it is clear that the prize is being given in recognition of the fact that this led to better understanding of neurodegenerative disorders and so on. For better or worse, the Nobel doesn't really go to discoveries that don't have applications somehow.

dekhn9y ago

It's disappointing that the "prize is being giving in recognization ... better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases".

My point is that I think the prize itself should honor scientific achievements, rather than medical ones, and that this discovery, on its own, stands as a fundamental biological understanding. That it helped understand neurodegenerative disorders is ancillary, and unecessary to justify the prize.

1 more reply

stealthefocus9y ago

This leans more to the physiology side of the prize I believe.

dekhn9y ago

right I'm saying that 'biology' is a more appropriate term than physiology.

2 more replies

vibrio9y ago

The physiology/fundamental biology is the area that needs /deserves the academic praise and where the public support and attention will do the most good. The application of that information by Pharmaceutical companies and physicians is often (not always) much more routine and intellectually incremental. This ia a great choice for the prize. I fully acknowledge that I'm very biased as a 'scientist type'.

nibs9y ago

In case anyone is interested in the personal implications of this, this is part the mechanism by which intermittent fasting gains it's health benefits. People have fasted for 16-48 hours and gained benefits through history but what is happening in the body is really ketosis + autophagy. Most people in the modern world eat too frequently to benefit from autophagy, but men (16 hours of fasting) and women (14 hours of fasting) can both benefit from the 3-4x faster cell recycling and potential life extension properties. More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy

lvs9y ago

Please, everyone in the IT/CS world, ridiculous health "benefit" claims are in fact the origin of the term "snake oil." There is no accepted guidance from the biomedical community regarding fasting that draws a link to autophagy. Please keep your completely unscientific and unfounded health "benefit" claims to yourself.

nibs9y ago

It seems as though many of your historical posts are similarly angry "source-your-claims" posts. Here is an article entitled "Short-term fasting induces profound neuronal autophagy": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20534972/

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nonbel9y ago

>"3-4x faster cell recycling"

What is "cell recycling"?

tomjakubowski9y ago

Most of the news outlets reporting on this are using that term, which must have appeared in a press release. I think it's just a layman-friendly version of "autophagy".

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jharohit9y ago

Not to CRISPR - again!...

chewymouse9y ago

While CRISPR is an incredible technology with plenty of current exposure, the Nobel Prize in Medicine tends to move slowly; often discoveries that first debuted 20 years ago are only finally recognized. CRISPR will have its day in the Nobel sun, but unlikely in this decade.

zhemao9y ago

The Nobel Prizes in science are generally awarded a few decades after the fact. That gives enough time for the impact of the work to become clear.

jsferrei9y ago

Very true. It took 8 years for Craig Mello and Andrew Fire to be awarded for RNAi (published 1998, awarded 2006 -- and that was considered fast). CRISPR as a gene engineering tool isn't even that old yet, so we've got a few years.

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qwertyasdf559y ago

The Nobel committee is probably waiting for a resolution to a patent conflict regarding who invented it first, before they give it to crispr, see http://www.nature.com/news/bitter-fight-over-crispr-patent-h...

selimthegrim9y ago

Whenever Lior Pachter points his guns it's time to get out the popcorn....

https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/the-heroes-of-c...

julienchastang9y ago

Don't give up hope, yet. CRISPR could be awarded for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Ribozyme discovery was a Chemistry Nobel [1]. And, yes, Nobels take decades to come to fruition.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribozyme

bbctol9y ago

I think we'll wait until a practical application sees adoption before handing out Nobels.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

30 comments

dekhn9y ago

I wish they'd rename the prize to "Nobel Prize in Fundamental Biology". Medicine is important but this is clearly a fundamental biology discovery.

jhbadger9y ago

dekhn9y ago

It's disappointing that the "prize is being giving in recognization ... better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases".

1 more reply

stealthefocus9y ago

This leans more to the physiology side of the prize I believe.

dekhn9y ago

right I'm saying that 'biology' is a more appropriate term than physiology.

2 more replies

vibrio9y ago

nibs9y ago

lvs9y ago

nibs9y ago

1 more reply

nonbel9y ago

>"3-4x faster cell recycling"

What is "cell recycling"?

tomjakubowski9y ago

Most of the news outlets reporting on this are using that term, which must have appeared in a press release. I think it's just a layman-friendly version of "autophagy".

1 more reply

jharohit9y ago

Not to CRISPR - again!...

chewymouse9y ago

zhemao9y ago

The Nobel Prizes in science are generally awarded a few decades after the fact. That gives enough time for the impact of the work to become clear.

jsferrei9y ago

1 more reply

qwertyasdf559y ago

selimthegrim9y ago

Whenever Lior Pachter points his guns it's time to get out the popcorn....

https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/the-heroes-of-c...

julienchastang9y ago

Don't give up hope, yet. CRISPR could be awarded for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Ribozyme discovery was a Chemistry Nobel [1]. And, yes, Nobels take decades to come to fruition.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribozyme

bbctol9y ago

I think we'll wait until a practical application sees adoption before handing out Nobels.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse