The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016

Question: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016 was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for …?

a) Discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.
b) Discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria
c) Discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain
d) None of the above.
Ans: (a)
Related facts:

  • On 3rd October, 2016 the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi.
  • Yoshinori Ohsumi is associated with Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
  • He was awarded the honor for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy
  • The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto-, meaning “self”, and phagein, meaning “to eat”
  • Oshinori Ohsumi used baker’s yeast to identify genes essential for autophagy. He then went on to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for autophagy in yeast and showed that similar sophisticated machinery is used in our cells.
  • Ohsumi’s discoveries opened the path to understanding the fundamental importance of autophagy in many physiological processes, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in several conditions including cancer and neurological disease.
  • Since 1901, 107 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have been awarded. It was not awarded on nine occasions: in 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1921, 1925, 1940, 1941 and 1942.
  • In total 211 individuals have been awarded between1901-2016 as the 32 prizes have been shared by two Laureates and 36 between three.
  • It is to be noted that the the prize was established by the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895. The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901. The related Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was established by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.

Reference:
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2016/press.html
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/facts/medicine/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize