Stem Cell Pioneers Candidates For Nobel Peace Prize
Two Canadian scientists, who made the controversial discovery of stem cells, are potential candidates for the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine, which will be made public on Monday.
Ernest McCulloch and James Till are the most likely choice for a Nobel for their early 1970’s find of the regenerative cells, experts predict.
Stem cells might have the potential to fix damaged cells, tissues and possibly organs, and combat diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, or maybe even rheumatoid arthritis.
The concept of farming stem cells from human eggs has been a divisive topic for a long time, but recently scientists have bypassed ethical issues by harvesting stem cells from skin cells.
Science writer Karin Bojs of Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, who has excelled at predicting the Nobel winners, picked Till and McCulloch for the prize this year.
As usual, the award committee is not talking about who the potential winners are before announcing the winners.
The award is given to those who make momentous discoveries on medicine, physics, chemistry, economics, literature and the Peace Prize.
Goran K. Hansson, secretary of the medicine group, said $1.4 million prize is not automatically given to discoveries that are new and current.
“The Nobel committee has often awarded discoveries long before they have come to practical use,” Hansson said to The Associated Press. “It is gratifying and very positive if there are applications within medical care but it is the actual discovery that is being awarded.”
He noted that the group does not take into account the ethical dilemmas of the discoveries.
“We are awarding the discoveries and not the application and therefore those issues aren’t of importance,” Hansson noted.
“There are so many beautiful discoveries made today that it is a delicate task to choose the most important.”
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