Genweek 2011: Celebrating Nobel Laureates in Genetics and Molecular Biology


Last December 2011, The UPLB Genetics Society celebrated its 28th Founding Anniversary through the conduct of the annual Genetics Week. GenWeek 2011 was held under the theme, "Genetics:Grooving through the years" which highlights Nobel laureates who have significantly contributed in the advancement of genetics and molecular biology. Activities that would cater to the members of the organization, the UPLB community and the organization's alumni were also included in the week-long celebration.


Schedule of Activities

12-16 December 2011

12 December  | Opening of the Exhibit (with VYLH-Philippines Side-exhibit
Institute of Biological Sciences, Wing C Lobby

13 December | IQlympics Quiz Contest
IBS Lecture Hall Main

14 December | Folic Acid Campaign and NBS Promotion
(in partnership with VYLH-Philippines Los Baños)

Student Union Building

15 Decemeber | Open Tambayan
IBS Wing C Lobby

16 December | Alumni Homecoming
IBS Wing C Lobby

What is the Nobel Prize?

The Nobel Prize Medal
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards given by Scandinavian Committees in recognition of significant  cultural and scientific advancements. The awards were named after the Swedish Chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of the dynamite. Nobel included in his will the establishment of the Nobel Prizes, which were funded by the bulk of his estate.


Since 1901, the awards have been awarded annually for achievements in five fields namely (1) Physics,  (2) Chemistry, (3) Physiology or Medicine, (4) Literature, and (5) Peace. 

In the field of genetics and molecular biology, Nobel laureates were recognized either in the field of Medicine and Physiology, or Chemistry. 



Listing of Nobel Prize Laureates in Medicine and Physiology related to Genetics and Molecular Biology

Kossel (1910) 
Work on protein including the nucleic substance 

Morgan (1933) 
Role of chromosomes in heredity 

Muller (1946) 
Production of mutations by X-ray irradiation 

Beadle & Tatum (1958) 
Regulation of definite chemical events (one gene:one protein) 

Lederberg (1958) 
Genetic recombination and the organization of the genetic material in bacteria 

Ochoa & Kornberg (1959) 
Mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic and deoxyribonucleic acid 

Crick, Watson & Wilkins (1962) 
Molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material 

Jacob, Lwoff & Monod (1965) 
Genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis 

Holley, Khorana & Nirenberg (1968) 
Genetic code and its function in protein synthesis 

Delbrück, Hershey & Luria (1969) 
The replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses 

Arber, Nathans & Smith (1978) 
Restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics 

McClintock (1983)  
Mobile genetic elements 

Tonegawa (1987)
Genetics of Antibody Formation and Diversity

Bishop and Varmus (1989)
Retroviral Oncogenes

Roberts & Sharp (1993) 
Split genes 

Lewis, Nüsslein-Volhard, Wieschaus (1995)
Genetic control of Early Embryonic Development

Prusiner (1997)
Prions, a new principle of infection 

Brenner, Horvitz and Sulston (2002) 
Genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death 

Fire & Mello (2006) 
RNA interference 

Capechi , Evans & Smithies (2007)
Principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of 
embryonic stem cells 

Blackburn, Greider & Szostak (2008)
Telomeres and Telomerase 


Listing of Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry with significant contribution to Molecular Biology

Berg, Gilbert, and Sanger (1980)
Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids and Recombinant DNA
Determination of Base Sequences in Nucleic Acids

Klug (1982)
Structure of Biologically Important Nucleic Acid-Protein Complexes

Altman and Cech (1989)
Discovery of the Catalytic Properties of RNA

Mullis and Smith (1993)
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Oligo-nucleotide Site-directed Mutagenesis

Ciechanover, Hershko and Rose (2004)
Ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

Kornberg (2006)
Molecular Basis of Eukaryotic Transcription

Ramkrishnan, Steitz, and Yonath (2009)
Structure and Function of the Ribosome


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References

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1901-2000". Nobelprize.org. 9 Dec 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/articles/lindsten-ringertz-rev/index.html

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Development of Modern Chemistry". Nobelprize.org. 9 Dec 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/articles/malmstrom/index.html

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