Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for pioneering work on enzymes and antibodies

Three researchers who “harnessed the power of evolution” to produce enzymes and antibodies that have led to a new best-selling drug and biofuels won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Dr. Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology was awarded half of the 9-mn Kronor ($1.01-mn) prize, while the other half will be shared by Dr. George Smith of the University of Missouri and Dr. Gregory Winter of the MRC molecular biology lab in Cambridge, England.

Since 1901, when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was first awarded, 177 people have captured the honour. This year Dr. Arnold became only the fifth woman to be awarded the prize.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which chose the winners, said Dr. Arnold, 62, conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, whose uses include “more environmentally friendly manufacturing of chemical substances such as pharmaceuticals and the production of renewable fuels.”

Dr. Smith, 77, was honoured for developing a method, known as phage display, in which a virus that infects bacteria can be used to evolve new proteins. Dr. Winter won for evolving antibodies through phage display to combat autoimmune diseases and in some cases, cure metastatic cancer.

The first pharmaceutical based on Dr. Winter’s work was approved for use in 2002 and is employed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases, the academy said. The chemical name of the drug is adalimumab, which has several trade named including Humira, one of the top-selling drugs in the world.