Protein evolution wins Nobel

Abstract

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Frances H. Arnold of California Institute of Technology for the directed evolution of enzymes and to George P. Smith of the University of Missouri and Gregory P. Winter of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the phage display of peptides and antibodies. Arnold will receive half of the approximately $1 million prize; Smith and Winter will split the other half equally. This year’s prize “recognizes the power of harnessing protein evolution to solve a wide range of problems in the molecular sciences,” says David R. Liu of Harvard University, an expert in directed evolution. “My hat’s off to Smith, Winter, and Arnold for their contributions to this multidisciplinary field that beautifully integrates chemistry, molecular biology, and protein science.” Directed evolution is an iterative lab method involving mutation and screening that speeds up the natural selection process through which life on