The Nobel Laureates

March of Dimes investment in research has led to the world's most prestigious award in science, a Nobel Prize, to 13 scientists whose original work was supported by March of Dimes research grants.They are:

1954
Dr. Linus Pauling: Identified the first known human disease caused by a specific molecular abnormality, sickle cell anemia.

Dr. John F. Enders, Dr. Thomas Weller and Dr. Frederick Robbins: Developed tissue culture method for growing polio virus.

1962
Dr. James D. Watson: Identified double helix structure of DNA.

1969
Dr. Max Delbruck: Showed how genes direct normal development and mutations cause abnormal development.

1976
Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek: Discovered role of unconventional infectious agents in certain rare degenerative brain disorders.

1985
Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein: Identified cellular cause of familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disorder causing very high cholesterol in the blood.

1995
Dr. Edward B. Lewis and Dr. Eric F. Wieschaus: Identified master genes that control early structural development of the body.

2003
Peter Agre: Identified the long-sought channels through which our cells precisely control influx and outflux of water via their membranes, a process fundamental to all life.

2006
Craig C. Mello, PhD, discovered RNA interference (RNAi), a natural mechanism whereby cells suppress the actions of specific genes, and one that scientists use to suppress selected genes in many fields of biological research, including exploration of RNAi treatments for a wide range of diseases (shared with Andrew Z. Fire, PhD).

Roger D. Kornberg, PhD, revealed many details of the molecular machinery that transcribes DNA's genetic information into messenger RNA, which then carries the information from a cell's nucleus to its protein-constructing units.

Three of these – Drs. Goldstein, Wieschaus, and Agre – had March of Dimes grants from the Basil O'Connor Starter Research program, created to identify especially promising young scientists and to launch their career commitments to birth defects research.

March of Dimes Prize
In addition, five recipients of the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology have gone on to win the Nobel Prize:

2002
Sydney Brenner, DPhil, FRS, and H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, received the Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries on genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death (shared with John E. Sulston, PhD).

2007
Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D., Sir Martin J. Evans, Ph.D., DSc., FRS, and Oliver Smithies, D.Phil., FRS, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering work on gene targeting.