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But his travels will not stop in Italy. After receiving the award
in Trento, Capecchi will go to Israel to accept the 2002/03 Wolf
Prize in Medicine-Israel's top honor in medical research. He'll
share the Wolf Prize with two other distinguished researchers--Oliver
Smithies of the University of North Carolina and Ralph R. Brinster
of the University of Pennsylvania.
Capecchi and Smithies, working independently, developed techniques
for targeted gene mutation in mammals, enabling researchers to
create strains of mice with mutations in virtually any gene. Brinster
developed a way to modify genes in mice embryo by injecting the
eggs with RNA.
The techniques developed by Capecchi, Smithies, and Brinster
have given researchers powerful tools for investigating human
biology and its misregulation in disease, according to the Wolf
Prize jury.
"These methods have enabled the development of models for
a wide variety of diseases including hypertension, degenerative
neurological diseases and cancer," the jury said.
In its citation for his work, the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR board
of directors said Capecchi has "changed the face of modern
biology."
"The generation of models of human cancer in mice, stemming
from your work, has made an enormous impact on cancer research
by elucidating the molecular mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis
and allowing new therapeutic strategies to be tested in laboratory
animals," the directors said.
Announcement of the awards had Capecchi poring over a map of
Northern Italy this week.
During the Second World War, he wandered the country for four
years until his mother, who'd been incarcerated by the Nazis,
found him in a hospital after the war. Trento was one of the cities
Capecchi spent time in during that period. In a sense, his trip
to Italy to accept the cash prize from the Pezcoller Foundation
will bring him full circle from his childhood. But the award,
he hopes, signifies that other scientists have benefited from
his research.
"It's gratifying to have people from around the world recognize
our work," he said. "Hopefully, it means that they're
using the technology we've developed and finding it beneficial,
too."
A. Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D., University of Utah senior vice president
for health sciences and dean of the medical school, said the awards
recognize the "fundamental importance" of Capecchi's
discoveries.
"Dr. Capecchi's work has influenced countless researchers
worldwide in the quest to understand disease and may lead, one
day, to major breakthroughs in fighting life-threatening disease,"
Betz said.
Raymond F. Gesteland, Ph.D., U of U vice president for research
and distinguished professor of genetics and biology, called Capecchi
"a treasure."
"These prizes awarded to Mario Capecchi, and others, justly
praise the revolutionary technology that has provided a most powerful
tool for modeling human disease and for understanding the complexity
of our genes," Gesteland said.
Many scientists would have rejected the possibility that one
gene, among 20,000 to 30,000, could be individually targeted in
a living animal. But Capecchi's and others' success is a tribute
to the eternal optimism of scientists, Gesteland said.
The Wolf Prize was established in 1978 by Dr. Ricardo Wolf, a
German-born inventor, "for achievements in the interest of
mankind and friendly relations among people, irrespective of nationality,
race, color, religion, sex or political view." The prize
is awarded each year in four of five scientific fields: agriculture,
chemistry, mathematics, medicine, and
physics. A prize in the arts also is awarded.
To date, 204 scientists and artists from 20 countries have received
Wolf Prizes. Each carries a $100,000 cash award.
The AACR and Pezcoller Foundation established their award in
1997 to honor a scientist who has made "significant contributions
to understanding cancer and whose ongoing work holds promise for
future outstanding contributions." The award carries a 75,000
(EURO) cash prize.
In addition to these latest honors, Capecchi has received the
2001 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Kyoto
Prize in Basic Science, the General Motors Corporation Alfred
P. Sloan Jr. Prize for Outstanding Basic Science Contributions
to Cancer Research, and, last year, the 2001 National Medal of
Science from President George W. Bush.
Capecchi will accept the Pezcoller Foundation-AARC International
Award for Cancer Research at a March symposium in Toronto, where
he'll also give a lecture. In May, he'll travel to Trento to receive
the cash prize from the Pezcoller Foundation, then to Israel where
he'll receive the Wolf Prize from the president of Israel, Moshe
Katsav, in a ceremony scheduled for May 11.
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