The Nobel prize is awarded for more than 100 years, and its winners are the most outstanding scientists from around the world. Every year dozens of candidates are considered by the Nobel Committee. Each opening is awarded, able to make a revolution in a particular scientific field. The prize winners in medicine and physiology was Ivan Pavlov, Robert Koch, Ilya Mechnikov, James Watson and many other outstanding scientists. And in 2017, the prestigious award was awarded to three scientists from the United States for discovery in the field of chronobiology.
To start I would like to say, what is chronobiology. Chronobiology is the science of biorhythms, their education and the impact on the human body. This science is relatively young and is rapidly gaining popularity in our days. For opening in this area, Nobel prize, scientists from the Rockefeller University Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael young, which could explain the mechanism of circadian biorhythms of plants, animals and humans at the molecular level.
In the course of studies in flies, fruit flies, scientists have identified a number of genes: period, timeless and doubletime. They encode the corresponding proteins PER, TIM and DBT. The level of these proteins changes cyclically in every living organism during the day. Scientists have found that PER protein accumulates in the cells of living organisms in the night and its concentration decreases during the day. Parallel to this change and the concentration of DBT and TIM proteins inside cells. According to the Secretary of the Nobel Committee Thomas Perlman,
“The ability of regular daily fluctuations is crucial for all living organisms. Nobel prize winners 2017 has studied this complex mechanism and lifted the veil of secrecy over how it is our “internal clock” guess the daily fluctuations between day and night to optimize our physiological and biological state.”
It is also worth adding that this is the first year since 2001 has increased the size of payments of the Nobel prize winners. It was increased by 12.5% and now stands at 9 million Swedish kronor (about 1,12 million USD).
Nobel prize for medicine was awarded for discoveries in the field of chronobiology
Vladimir Kuznetsov