This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Mario Capecchi has lived an extraordinary life. Even so, we can only imagine what went through his mind when he got a call at 3 a.m. yesterday notifying him that he had been named one of three winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
He says that the tone of voice of the gentleman on the line from Sweden was very serious, which, we presume, discounted the idea that the call could be a hoax.
In fact, Capecchi, a researcher at the University of Utah since 1973, did win a Nobel Prize, which recognizes him, Martin J. Evans of North Carolina and Oliver Smithies of Wales for their discoveries of "principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."
These "ground-breaking discoveries concerning embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals . . . led to the creation of an immensely powerful technology referred to as gene targeting in mice. It is now being applied to virtually all areas of biomedicine - from basic research to the development of new therapies."
As the U. put it in a press release, gene targeting has revolutionized the study of mammalian biology - mice genes are about 95 percent identical to humans in sequence - and allowed the creation of animal models for hundreds of human diseases, including the modeling of cancers in the mouse.
Most science is the result of collaboration, and Capecchi was generous in praise of his colleagues, noting that he and the other recipients of the prize "have all been very fortunate in having a longstanding scientific friendship and in being able to profoundly contribute to each other's work. This prize is a tribute to our collective efforts."
The advancement of the science of genetics has been one of the spectacular stories of the past 50 years. Capecchi himself studied under James Watson, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, in his laboratory at Harvard. And it was Watson who counseled Capecchi that he could pursue good science anywhere when his junior colleague contemplated coming to the U. in the early 1970s.
Today, all of Utah basks in Capecchi's reflected glory. But a more fitting reaction would be a renewed commitment by this state and its Legislature to the principles of science and the funding of science education and research.