This episode covers one half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Harald zur Hausen. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give zur Hausen the award “for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer”. Topics include the use of Pap smears to screen for cervical cancer, zur Hausen’s discovery of HPV DNA in cervical cancer cells, and the development of highly effective HPV vaccines ..read more

This episode covers one half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Montagnier and Barré-Sinoussi the award “for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus”. Topics include how the AIDS pandemic unfolded at the start of the 1980s, the work scientists did to discover the virus behind the pandemic, the ongoing search for an HIV vaccine, and some of the novel strategies scientists are testing to find a cure for HIV infections ..read more

This episode covers the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, and Howard Temin. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Baltimore, Dulbecco, and Temin the award “for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of the cell”. Topics include the identification of Rous Sarcoma Virus as the first known retrovirus, the discovery of an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that can synthesize a DNA copy of a molecule of RNA, and how reverse transcriptase has become an essent ..read more

This episode covers the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Bishop and Varmus the award “for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes”. Topics include Bishop and Varmus’ discovery of the first cellular proto-oncogene c-src, how the discovery of that gene lead to a fundamental shift in our understanding of the essence of cancer, and Beowulf ..read more

This episode covers one half of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Peyton Rous. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Rous the award “for his discovery of tumor-inducing viruses”. Topics include Rous’ discovery of a virus that caused cancer in chickens, how that sparked a search for cancer-causing viruses in humans, and the discovery of Epstein-Barr virus, the first virus linked to a human cancer.  ..read more

This episode covers the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Johannes Fibiger. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Fibiger the award “for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma”. This Nobel Prize has been called one of the biggest blunders made by the Karolinska Institute. Topics include Fibiger’s discovery of a roundworm he claimed caused cancer, how that claim was later shown to be false, and the importance of reproducibility in science ..read more

This episode covers the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Max Theiler. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Theiler the award “for his discoveries concerning yellow fever and how to combat it”. Topics include the discovery that yellow fever is spread by mosquitos, the discovery that yellow fever is caused by a virus, and how Theiler was able to create a live-attenuated vaccine for yellow fever that we still use today.   ..read more

This episode covers the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Enders, Weller, and Robbins the award “for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue”. Topics include the work that culminated in the creation of the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines, the nearly completed mission to eradicate polio from the face of the earth, and the reason Franklin D. Roosevelt’s portrait is on the American dime.  ..read more

This episode covers the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Selman Waksman. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Waksman the award “for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis”. Topics include the isolation of streptomycin, how antibiotics work molecularly, and the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria ..read more

This episode covers the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. The Nobel Assembly chose to give Laveran the award “in recognition of his work on the role played by protozoa in causing diseases". The protozoa that Laveran is most known for is the malaria parasite. Topics include Laveran’s identification of the parasite that causes malaria, a description of the life cycle of the malaria parasite, and some of the current challenges in malaria vaccine development ..read more