U. scientist Capecchi wins Nobel Prize

Capecchi earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics from Antioch College and his doctorate in biophysics from Harvard, where he completed his thesis work under the guiding hand of Nobel laureate James D. Watson, who with France Crick determined the structure of DNA. He was an associate professor of biochemistry at Harvard when he left to join the U. faculty in 1973, wooed by the prospect of being able to work on long-term projects and looking for big answers to big questions, he said.

The three scientists each achieved acclaim for a technique called gene targeting. Scientists can inactivate or change specific genes in mice to see how they affect health and disease. Their work has implications for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and nearly every other type of disease.

"The knockout mice technology which they developed has completely transformed the landscape of biomedical research," said Jeremy M. Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, in the National Institutes of Health, which has for years supported some of Capecchi's research.

"The number of the field they haven't touched is very small. Every human disease, where there are genes of interest for one reason or another, one of the first things they do is make a knockout mouse strain and see what the impact is."

The technology used has changed and become more sophisticated over the years, making the process more robust and reliable, he said.

To use this technique, researchers introduce a genetic change into mouse embryonic stem cells. These cells are then injected into mouse embryos. The mice born from these embryos are bred with others, to produce offspring with altered genes.

"Gene targeting has pervaded all fields of biomedicine. Its impact on the understanding of gene function and its benefits to mankind will continue to increase over many years to come," said the citation for the $1.54 million prize.

Capecchi's work has uncovered the roles of genes involved in organ development in mammals, the committee said. Evans has developed strains of gene-altered mice to study cystic fibrosis, and Smithies has created strains to study such conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease.

The prizes are handed out every year on Dec. 10, the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

Because last year's Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for work involving RNA, Capecchi said receiving the call was a "complete surprise." The award "usually jumps around," and he didn't expect to see another in molecular genetics.

Once he was told he'd won, he had to keep it to himself for a half-hour before he could call his daughter, Misha.