MB Civic

By Matt Moore and Karl Ritter (AP) | Monday, October 2, 2006 | The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/02/AR2006100200185.html

Without getting too technical, the two Americans, Andrew Fire from Stanford and Craig Mello from UMass-Worcester Medical School and HHMI (the Howard Hughes Medical Institute), have discovered a method for turning off the expression of individual genes in highly specific way, leaving all other genes undisturbed.

It promises to advance “molecular medicine” – therapies based on genes – in a number of powerful ways. For example, the AIDS virus inserts itself permanently in the DNA of each cell it infectsl, and in a way HIV-1 acts like a parasitic gene. This method might allow one to turn off that undesired gene and preserve the cell, preventing the virus from taking over and turning it into a virus factory.

That’s just one example of thousands of cool new possibilities, but it gives you some idea why this science was honored with a Nobel Prize. This one is huge, as huge as the development of PCR, the “photocopier for genes” a decade ago. And these guys are young – both about 40 – with very bright looking futures. A “feel good” piecem for a change…BS