“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
NEW YORK (AP) — A scientist who discovered a powerful malaria drug
and two others who illuminated how proteins fold within cells have
won prestigious medical awards.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced the $250,000 prizes
Monday and will present them Sept. 23 in New York.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Tu Youyou, 81, of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in
Beijing, won the clinical research award for discovering the
malaria drug artemisinin (ar-tuh-MIHS’-ihn-ihn), which the
foundation said has saved millions of lives.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
In the late 1960s, as part of a Chinese government project, Tu
began combing ancient texts and folk remedies to find a treatment
for malaria. She collected 2,000 potential recipes, from which her
team made 380 extracts. One extract, from sweet wormwood, showed
promise in mouse studies. Following a clue from an ancient
document, Tu redesigned the extraction process to make the extract
more potent. In the early 1970s, she and her colleagues isolated
the active ingredient, artemisinin.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
The Lasker award for basic research is shared by Dr. Franz-Ulrich
Hartl, 54, of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in
Martinsried, Germany, and Dr. Arthur Horwich, 60, of Yale
University. Their key discoveries about how proteins fold within
cells may someday help scientists find new treatments for such
illnesses as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases,
the foundation said.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Before their work, scientists thought that proteins needed no help
to fold into their proper shapes. But in the late 1980s, the two
men discovered that the folding happens within a cage-like
structure that promotes the process.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“They gave the medical world a key understanding of how proteins
reach their biological potential,” the foundation said.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
A third Lasker prize, for public service, was awarded to the
Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. Since 1953,
the center has been “a model research hospital, providing
innovative therapy and high-quality patient care, treating rare and
severe diseases and producing outstanding physician-scientists,”
the foundation said.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
The Lasker foundation was established in 1942. Albert Lasker was an
advertising executive who died in 1952. His wife Mary was a
longtime champion of medical research before her death in
1994.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
—
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Online:
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Lasker Foundation: “text-decoration: none; color: #000066;” href=
“http://www.laskerfoundation.org/” target=
“-blank”>http://www.laskerfoundation.org
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“text-decoration: none; color: #000066;” rel=”item-license” name=
“d0270f3a-43c7-4608-8973-21c45afe8d07” href=
“http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_LASKER_AWARDS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-09-12-08-07-57#d0270f3a-43c7-4608-8973-21c45afe8d07″> © 2011 The
Associated Press may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. “http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy”>Privacy
Policy
