I’m very pleased to announce that two long-time NIGMS grantees are among today’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. They include:

• Frances H. Arnold, Ph.D., of the California Institute of Technology, “for the directed evolution of enzymes”
• George P. Smith, Ph.D., of the University of Missouri, Columbia, who shares the prize with Sir Gregory P. Winter of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, U.K., “for the phage display of peptides and antibodies”

This recognition clearly demonstrates the importance of basic biomedical research and is a testament to how studies of seemingly abstract principles in biology can have profound implications for technology and medicine. Smith and Winter’s work also represents yet another scientific breakthrough made possible by humble bacteriophages! To date, NIGMS has supported the work of 89 Nobel laureates—43 in physiology or medicine and 46 in chemistry. These investigators perform cutting-edge basic research in many different organisms and experimental systems that is the foundation for understanding normal life processes and disease. To read more about today’s winners, see the NIH news release. To learn more about NIGMS’ support of Nobel laureates, see our fact sheet. Again, congratulations to Drs. Arnold and Smith on this outstanding achievement.