• Before getting into the research that claimed this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine, isn’t it immensely significant that it has gone to genetic work?

It is. Already great claims are being made that 2007 will be as important a year as 1905 in the annals of science. That year a flurry of papers by one man alone — Albert Einstein — changed physics and our understanding of the physical world forever. Years of rapid work on genes — more specifically, the human genome — are, this year, yielding plans on how to tap this knowledge to treat diseases and disorders.

• About this year’s winners?

Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies share the Nobel for work on embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals. They are credited with advances in “gene knockout” technology. There are two parts to understanding the potential of their work. First, by gene knockout, a certain gene is deactivated. The Nobel committee’s announcement notes that “knockout mice” have already been made possible for 10,000 mouse genes. Two, “gene targetting” DNA modification of the mouse genome makes it possible for scientists to find the role of individual genes for specific human diseases and disorders. This has been done for hundreds of things, like cardiovascular troubles, cancers and diabetes. By targetting one gene at a time, a deeper profile of a disease can be made, including the sequence of how it sets in and progresses.

• What are embryonic stem cells?

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