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Awarded independently in six distinct categories, the Nobel Prize is a renowned honour given “to individuals who, even during the preceding year, have imparted the greatest value to humankind.” At first, the prizes were given out for peace, literature, physiology or medicine, physics and chemistry “To the individual who has done the most or best to develop fellowship among nations, the elimination or reduction of national armies, and the founding and support of peace congresses” was how the Peace Prize was defined. Later in 1968, a sixth award in the category of economic sciences was added.
Key Takeaways
- Svante Paabo, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1955, is the director of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, which is situated in Leipzig. He earned a medical degree from the University of Uppsala.
- Svante Pääbo won the 2022 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for his studies on the DNA of extinct early humans and human evolution. The first of the 2021 Nobel Prize announcements kicked off the week of the most coveted award announcements.
- Svante Pääbo and his team used tens of thousands of years-old bones to successfully reconstruct the first iteration of the Neanderthal’s genome in 2010.
- Researchers from the Max Planck Centre for Evolutionary Anthropology nearly finished decoding the Neanderthal DNA in 2014. This made it possible to compare the genomes of contemporary humans.
Svante Paabo
Svante Paabo, born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1955, is currently in charge of the Leipzig-based Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He graduated from the University of Uppsala with a medical degree. In 1980, he started working part-time as a researcher and instructor at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology and Uppsala’s Department of Cell Biology. He received his Ph.D. in 1986, the same year he started postdoctoral study at the Department for Molecular Biology II. He completed his prize-winning academic work at the University of Munich in Germany. The genomes of modern humans and other hominins, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, could be compared thanks to innovative methods pioneered by Paabo.
“Paleogenomics was created as a result of Paabo’s groundbreaking study. His studies lay the groundwork for investigating what makes us specifically human by exposing genetic differences that separate all living people from extinct hominins, “According to the Nobel Committee’s announcement. A week of Nobel Laureate announcements began with the award for medical research. Tuesday’s reward is for physics, followed by Wednesday’s for chemistry and Thursday’s for literature. The 2022 Nobel Prizes for Peace and Economics will be revealed on Friday and October 10.
The 2022 Nobel Prize
For his research on the DNA of extinct early humans and human evolution, Svante Pääbo was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. The week of the most coveted award announcements began with the first of the 2021 Nobel Prizes. The genome of the extinct relative of modern humans, the Neanderthal, was sequenced by Pääbo. Additionally, he discovered the stunning discovery of Denisova, a previously unidentified hominid. In addition, Pääbo discovered that gene transmission from these now extinct early humans to Homo sapiens took place after the journey from Africa about 70,000 years ago. Humans today still benefit physiologically from this ancient gene flow because it influences, for example, how our immune systems respond to infections. According to the Nobel announcement, Paleogenomics, a completely new scientific field, was created due to Pääbo’s groundbreaking study.
At Uppsala University, Svante Pääbo studied both Egyptology and medicine. He also proved that DNA might survive in ancient Egyptian tombs while pursuing his Ph.D. in immunology, earning him professional notoriety as a forerunner of the brand-new subject of paleogenetics study. Paleogeneticists examine the genomes of prehistoric organisms to conclude the evolution’s trajectory. Pääbo joined the University of California, Berkeley, a team by evolutionary scientist Allan Wilson after receiving his doctorate. He became the leader of his lab at Munich’s Ludwig Technical University in 1990. Pääbo joined the newly established Leipzig Institute for Evolutionary Biology in 1997 as one of five currently employed directors.
A gigantic puzzle
The problem is that 99.9% of the DNA identified in Neanderthal bones comes from microorganisms because fungi and bacteria have so strongly infested them after thousands of years. Additionally, the scant amounts of Neanderthal DNA are only found in brief shards that need to be put together like a mammoth jigsaw. Many scientists thought this challenge was insurmountable. But Pääbo’s team came up with fresh ideas. Like the chip industry, the researchers worked in “clean rooms” during their research. They could avoid accidentally introducing their Genes into the research because of this. They also created more effective extraction techniques that increased the yield of Neanderthal DNA.
The first iteration of the Neanderthal’s genome was successfully recreated in 2010 by Svante Pääbo and his team using tens of millennia-old bones. Comparing the genomes of contemporary humans and Neanderthals revealed that they had shared ancestors at the time of their encounter, some 50,000 years ago when they left Africa and travelled to Europe and Asia. Therefore, roughly 2% of Neanderthal DNA can still be found in the genomes of modern non-African individuals. This genetic contribution altered the course of human evolution; for example, it strengthened contemporary people’s immune systems and increased their vulnerability to several diseases.
Origins Of the Human Species
In 2014, the Max Planck Centre for Evolutionary Anthropology researchers almost entirely decoded the Neanderthal DNA. This allowed for a comparison with the genomes of modern humans. According to Pääbo, “We have discovered over 30,000 sites where the genomes of nearly all modern humans diverge from those of Neanderthals and big apes.” They explain what qualifies as modern in terms of genetics for anatomically modern humans. Understanding what separates modern humans’ cognitive capacities from those of long-extinct hominids may depend on several genetic variations.
