_Nobel prize project 2014
Background
There have been numerous Nobel Prizes awarded for discoveries in biology –and many of these experiments we discuss in class. Your assignment is to write a blog that reviews the original work for which the prize was awarded, and then provides an update on the respective area of research. This can be done by identifying a recent (within the last 5 years) primary research paper on the same topic. For example if you picked the discovery of “recombination”(shuffling of genes) your update might be a recent paper on a study that explores the relationship between genetic recombination, natural selection and adaptation of the HIV-1 virus.
Description
Your project will include 2 blog posts. For the 1st post, a review of the original work the key experiments that led to the discovery should be discussed. For the second blog post an update should be generated through a primary research paper(2010 or later) that is somehow linked to the original discovery. It’s ok if it’s tangential, but you need to be able to discuss how this current finding is connected to the original work.
1st Post: The Prize-worthy discovery
- Introduction to the problem or scientific question they were studying
- A review of the key experiments that led to the discovery–and you can include any interesting historical anecdotes if they are relevant!
- Your interpretation of the importance of this discovery –why was it Nobel prize worthy?
Second Post: The Update
- A succinct summary of the objectives and conclusions of the paper. Try to provide a little background as to why the study was performed, and then mention the main findings and conclusions.
- A review of the key experiments and how they support the authors conclusions
- Discuss particular strengths or weaknesses of the paper
- Clearly connect this research to the original Prize-worthy discovery. Part I: The Prize Worthy Discovery
Suggested Nobel Prizes:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/
Physiology or Medicine 1958
George Beadle and Edward Tatum – for their discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events
Physiology or Medicine 1959
Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg – for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic and deoxyribonucleic acid
Physiology or Medicine 1962
Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins – for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nuclear acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.
Physiology or Medicine 1965
Francois Jacob, Andre Lwoff, and Jaques Monod – for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis.
Physiology or Medicine 1968
Robert Holley, Har Gobind Khorana, and Marshall Nirenberg -for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis
Physiology or Medicine 1969
Max Delbruck, Alfred Hershey and Salvadore Luria – for their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses”.
Chemistry 1972
Christian Anfinsen – for his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active confirmation
Stanford Moore and William Stein – for their contribution to the understanding of the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active centre of the ribonuclease molecule
Physiology or Medicine 1978
Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith – for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics
Physiology or Medicine 1983
Barbara McClintock – for her discovery of mobile genetic elements
Chemistry 1989
Sidney Altman and Thomas Cech – for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA
Chemistry 1993
Kary Mullis – for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method
Physiology or Medicine 1993
Richard Roberts and Phillip Sharp – for their discoveries of split genes
Chemistry 2006
Roger Kornberg – for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription