Share Nobel Prize in Medicine

Young have today won 2017 Nobel Prize for Medicine “for ir discoveries of molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythm”, biological phenomena that occur rhythmically around same time of day, like dream. This gave the impression that plants have their own biological clock. And, he said, is because of the work of these researchers.

He said their research had disclosed “a attractive mechanism” for how genes controlled body clocks. This became known as the circadian rhythm. In the 1960s, Ron Konopka (PhD ’72), a graduate student in Benzer’s lab, discovered that mutant Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies could have a shorter-than-normal circadian rhythm, a longer-than-normal circadian rhythm, or no circadian rhythm at all. Kramer said it is not fully understood what role the clock plays in evolution, and it is still “really early days” in translating knowledge of the clock to the clinic. The three men isolated the “period” gene in fruit flies, which share many genes with humans, including the period gene.

Young discovered genes that encode other proteins involved in the circadian rhythm.

In 1984, Rosbash and Hall succeeded in identifying and sequencing the period gene. According to a report in The Guardian, the discovery of different genes and proteins by the team has aided the explanation of the workings of the self-regulating mechanism as well as the way light can synchronise the clock. But how does this clock actually work? Young figured out how that happened. Michael Young identified yet another gene, doubletime, encoding the DBT protein that delayed the accumulation of the PER protein. They are totally fundamental. The remaining research disclosed the role of many other genes from the complex system. But this theory is quickly encountered some inconsistencies at the cellular level, the protein can not enter the nucleus, and thus access to the gene and inhibit it.

Our mood, hormone levels, body temperature and metabolism all fluctuate in a daily rhythm. Time of day can influence the effectiveness of drugs and their side effects.

The ghastly experience of jet lag is caused by the body being out of sync with the world around it. As per sources, The Nobel prize committee also said that their research had “vast implications for our health and wellbeing”.

The award came as a complete surprise to one of the Nobelists.

Circadian rhythms have never got the respect they deserve from lighting designers, architects or engineers, often thought of as pseudoscience.

The trio will share the prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor (about Dollars 1.1 million or 937,000 euros).

That’s up from SEK 8 million a year ago but still down from the SEK 10 million awarded until 2011.