It opens the Nobel season. The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was awarded on Monday to the Swede Svante Pääbo, 67, for the sequencing of the genome of Neanderthal Man and the foundation of paleogenomics.
“By revealing the genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominids, his findings provided the basis for exploring what makes us humans such unique beings,” the jury said. “Genetic differences between Homo Sapiens and our now extinct closest relatives were unknown until identified through the work of Pääbo,” the Nobel committee added in its decision.
Nobel Prize from father to son
Svante Pääbo discovered that a transfer of genes had taken place between these now extinct hominins and Homo sapiens. This ancient gene flow to modern-day humans has a physiological impact, for example by affecting how our immune system responds to infections.
His father, Sune Bergström, had also received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1982. The prize comes with a reward of 10 million crowns (about 920,000 euros).
From nervous system to Neanderthal
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Americans Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius for their discovery of how the nervous system transmits temperature and touch.
The vintage continues in Stockholm on Tuesday with physics, then chemistry on Wednesday, before the highly anticipated literature prize on Thursday and peace on Friday, the only award given in Oslo. The most recent economy price closes the vintage next Monday.