VISIONARIES

Chemistry Nobel Prize Goes to Trio Who ‘Took Control of Evolution’

Frances Arnold and George Smith of the U.S. and Gregory Winter of Britain.

The Nobel Prize for chemistry has been won by three scientists—Frances Arnold and George Smith of the U.S. and Gregory Winter of Britain—for their groundbreaking work on enzymes, proteins, and antibodies. The prize, announced Wednesday morning, will see nine million Swedish kronor, which is roughly $1 million, shared out among the three. Arnold conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes that can be used in biofuels and pharmaceuticals. Smith developed a method known as phage display, where a bacteriophage—a virus that infects bacteria—can be used to evolve new proteins. Winter used that method to produce new pharmaceuticals, producing antibodies that can neutralize toxins, counteract autoimmune diseases, and cure metastatic cancer. The three were praised for “taking control of evolution” to develop proteins that solve humankind’s chemical problems.