08 Oct 07

Oliver Smithies, an Honorary Fellow and former student of Balliol College, shares the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Briton Martin J Evans and American scientist Mario R Capecchi for developing a technology for manipulating genes in mice.

The Nobel Committee said their research had led to the creation of an immensely powerful technology referred to as gene targeting in mice. It is now being applied to virtually all areas of biomedicine – from basic research to the development of new therapies and has led to new insights into conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

Oliver Smithies is a former student of Balliol College, gaining a First in his BA Chemistry degree in 1946 before completing his master’s degree and doctorate in biochemistry from Oxford in 1951. Professor Smithies, who was born in Yorkshire, is now Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in the United States.

Professor Smithies is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Society of London. He funds the prestigious Oliver Smithies lectures at Balliol, enabling the college to invite distinguished visitors from abroad to give lectures.

The Master of Balliol College, Andrew Graham, said: ‘This is wonderful news. Oliver Smithies was both an undergraduate and a graduate at Balliol and has been an Honorary Fellow for some years. The College is delighted at this recognition of his outstanding work.’

Professor Smithies is the second Balliol Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, following Professor Baruch Blumberg , a Master of Balliol between 1989-1994, who received the Nobel Prize in 1976 for his part in the discovery of the Hepatitis B virus.