Sir John Gurdon shares the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine with Shinya Yamanaka, for reprogramming adult cells
A British researcher whose schoolboy ambition to become a scientist was dismissed as "quite ridiculous" by his teacher has won a Nobel prize for reprograming adult cells into forms that can grow into different tissues.
Sir John Gurdon at Cambridge University shares the prize in physiology or medicine - and the 8m Swedish kronor (£744,000) winnings - with the Japanese scientist, Shinya Yamanaka.
The work has given scientists fresh insights into how cells and organisms develop, and may pave the way for radical advances in medicine that allow damaged or diseased tissues to be regenerated.
Prior to the duo's research, many scientists suspected that once cells had matured they were committed irreversibly to their specialism. Gurdon and Yamanaka proved that assumption to be false by reprogramming cells into more youthful states, from which they could grow into many other tissue types.
Gurdon's breakthrough came in 1962, when he transplanted the nucleus form a mature intestine cell into a frog's egg that had had its own nucleus removed. The modified egg grew into a healthy tadpole, suggesting the mature cell had all the genetic information required to make all the cells in a frog.
Yamanaka, who was born in the year of Gurdon's discovery, reported in 2006 how mature cells from mice could be reprogrammed into immature stem cells, which can develop into many different types of cell in the body. The cells are known as iPS cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells.
In a statement, the Nobel Assembly at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said the scientists had "revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop".
According to a school report, as a teenager Gurdon did not stand out as a budding scientist. Writing in 2006, he quoted the report from his biology teacher. "I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous; if he can't learn simple biological facts, he would have no chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him."
By drawing on the methods developed by Gurdon and Yamanaka, scientists can create cells that carry specific diseases and watch how they grow. The procedure could shed light on the biological mechanisms that go awry in disease and reveal new ways to treat them.
John Hardy, professor of neuroscience at University College London, said: "I think everyone who works on developmental biology and on the understanding of disease mechanisms will applaud these excellent and clear choices for the Nobel prizes. Countless labs' work build on the breakthroughs they have pioneered."
Julian Savulescu, Uehiro professor of practical ethics at Oxford University, said: "This is not only a giant leap for science, it is a giant leap for mankind. Yamanaka and Gurdon have shown how science can be done ethically. Yamanaka has taken people's ethical concerns seriously about embryo research and modified the trajectory of research into a path that is acceptable for all. He deserves not only a Nobel prize for medicine, but a Nobel prize for ethics."
