Capecchi, 2 colleagues give spellbinding lecture

STOCKHOLM — Nobel laureates in this Swedish capital draw crowds not unlike those you'd find for a popular concert, although perhaps smaller: For the Nobel lecture in medicine Friday, the throng arrived early, some with chairs for a more comfortable wait. A few had an impromptu picnic on the floor outside the Jacob Berzelius auditorium at the Karolinska Institute.

This year's Nobel laureates in medicine — Mario Capecchi of the University of Utah, Sir Martin Evans of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom and Oliver Smithies of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill — held the audience spellbound for 2 1/2 hours as they explained the fundamentals of gene targeting using embryonic stems cells. It was for their work in that area that the three men share the prestigious award.

The audience, standing-room-only, included a delegation from China, university students, other scientists and pals of the Nobel winners who have flown thousands of miles to attend.

All of them grabbed a poster that explained gene targeting and featured photos of the trio; many of them stayed after to have the posters signed or to pose for photos with a favorite Nobelist.

The crowd would not have surprised the woman a reporter chanced to meet on the bus en route to the lecture. She said she has set aside Monday afternoon and evening to watch the Nobel Award Ceremony and banquet on TV. In the '50s, she said, anyone could get in, as she once did. Now, "most of us, at least those of us 50 and older, watch spellbound," she said. "Here in Sweden, it is a very important thing."

Several of those waiting in line for the lecture said they try to go every year.

As for the lectures, they were decidedly scientific, all designed to explain the principles of inserting a selected genetic change, whether the addition, deletion or modification of a gene, into mice.