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2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

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Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#11

Post by cowsandmilk »

dekhn wrote: post #6
stealthefocus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This leans more to the physiology side of the prize I believe.

right I'm saying that 'biology' is a more appropriate term than physiology.

Why? This is clearly physiology (how living systems function). And physiology is a field of biology. Biology also includes things like the dynamics of ecosystems and classification of organisms.

Physiology is a more descriptive term for this work. You could argue this is "cell biology", but that's just a claim that these fields are exclusive of each other; much modern physiological work is now understanding the underlying molecular processes (maybe it is molecular biology?).

His work on molecular mechanisms has brought better understanding of higher level processes in the body and traditional "physiologic" mechanisms.

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#13

Post by dekhn »

cowsandmilk wrote: post #11
dekhn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right I'm saying that 'biology' is a more appropriate term than physiology.

Why? This is clearly physiology (how living systems function). And physiology is a field of biology. Biology also includes things like the dynamics of ecosystems and classification of organisms. Physiology is a more descriptive term for this work. You could argue this is "cell biology", but that's just a claim that these fields are exclusive of each other; much modern physiological work is now understanding the under…

This specific prize awards something which is physiology.

I meant that the prize itself should be renamed to biology because physiology is-a biology and the prize often is awarded to things that are biology rather than medicine or physiology which are highly specific.

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#14

Post by jsferrei »

zhemao wrote: post #12
jharohit wrote: post #4

Not to CRISPR - again!...

The Nobel Prizes in science are generally awarded a few decades after the fact. That gives enough time for the impact of the work to become clear.

Very true. It took 8 years for Craig Mello and Andrew Fire to be awarded for RNAi (published 1998, awarded 2006 -- and that was considered fast). CRISPR as a gene engineering tool isn't even that old yet, so we've got a few years.

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#15

Post by dekhn »

1457389 wrote: post #9
dekhn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right I'm saying that 'biology' is a more appropriate term than physiology.

Except it's not. Autophagy as a process happens at the cellular level but the whole reason it's important is because it has emergent ramifications for the entire living organism, impacting on metabolism, senescence, carcinogenesis and a number of other endpoints that operate at organismal scale. Your characterisation of this as "fundamental biology" obscures this emergence. Appropriateness aside, I think the real rea…

People on my thread are missing my point: I meant the prize should be renamed to be more general; I'm not criticizing the categorization of autophagy as physiology at all.

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#16

Post by dekhn »

jhbadger wrote: post #8
dekhn wrote: post #2

I wish they'd rename the prize to "Nobel Prize in Fundamental Biology". Medicine is important but this is clearly a fundamental biology discovery.

Yes and no. You can argue that genetics of autophagy are fundamental but it is clear that the prize is being given in recognition of the fact that this led to better understanding of neurodegenerative disorders and so on. For better or worse, the Nobel doesn't really go to discoveries that don't have applications somehow.

It's disappointing that the "prize is being giving in recognization ... better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases".

My point is that I think the prize itself should honor scientific achievements, rather than medical ones, and that this discovery, on its own, stands as a fundamental biological understanding. That it helped understand neurodegenerative disorders is ancillary, and unecessary to justify the prize.

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#17

Post by julienchastang »

jharohit wrote: post #4

Not to CRISPR - again!...

Don't give up hope, yet. CRISPR could be awarded for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Ribozyme discovery was a Chemistry Nobel [1]. And, yes, Nobels take decades to come to fruition.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribozyme

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#18

Post by qwertyasdf55 »

jharohit wrote: post #4

Not to CRISPR - again!...

The Nobel committee is probably waiting for a resolution to a patent conflict regarding who invented it first, before they give it to crispr, see http://www.nature.com/news/bitter-fight-over-crispr-patent-h...

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#19

Post by nibs »

In case anyone is interested in the personal implications of this, this is part the mechanism by which intermittent fasting gains it's health benefits. People have fasted for 16-48 hours and gained benefits through history but what is happening in the body is really ketosis + autophagy. Most people in the modern world eat too frequently to benefit from autophagy, but men (16 hours of fasting) and women (14 hours of fasting) can both benefit from the 3-4x faster cell recycling and potential life extension properties. More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy

Re: 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi [pdf]

#20

Post by zhemao »

dekhn wrote: post #16
jhbadger wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. You can argue that genetics of autophagy are fundamental but it is clear that the prize is being given in recognition of the fact that this led to better understanding of neurodegenerative disorders and so on. For better or worse, the Nobel doesn't really go to discoveries that don't have applications somehow.

It's disappointing that the "prize is being giving in recognization ... better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases". My point is that I think the prize itself should honor scientific achievements, rather than medical ones, and that this discovery, on its own, stands as a fundamental biological understanding. That it helped understand neurodegenerative disorders is ancillary, and unecessary to justify the priz…

Alfred Nobel apparently disagreed, and it's still the interest on the money bequeathed by his will that funds the prize. So it's unlikely that the name will be changed.
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