5 Nobel-worthy discoveries that haven’t won the prize
The first human genome, which was mapped between 1990 and 2003 through an international collaboration of thousands of scientists, is a significant breakthrough that has influenced biology and medicine. However, it may not have received a Nobel Prize due to the vast number of contributors involved, which contradicts the Nobel stipulations of recognizing up to three individuals per award.
A revolution in obesity treatment has been achieved with high-profile weight-loss medications that imitate the hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). These medications reduce blood sugar levels and suppress appetite, offering a transformative period for treating obesity and related disorders like type 2 diabetes. Three scientists—Slanasov, Joelener, and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen—who contributed to the creation of semaglutide, have received the 2021 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, which is often seen as a precursor to a potential Nobel Prize.
Revolutionary AI developments, particularly the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database created by Demis Hassabis and John Jumper at Google DeepMind, have significantly accelerated advancements in fundamental biology. This AI program deciphers the three-dimensional structures of proteins from amino acid sequences, a tool utilized by at least 2 million researchers worldwide. Since the publication of their pivotal paper in 2021, it has been cited over 13,000 times, making it an exceptional contribution to scientific literature.
Understanding the gut microbiome is another area that has seen significant breakthroughs. This knowledge has paved the way for genetic testing that identifies women at higher risk for breast cancer and outlines preventive measures, including additional screenings and prophylactic surgeries.
