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Science Friday > Archives > 2003 > July > July 11, 2003:
Hour Two: Chromosome 7 / J. Michael Bishop - 'How to Win the Nobel Prize'

Researchers this week reported that they have completed the sequencing of chromosome 7 in the human genome. It's the largest of the chromosomes sequenced so far, and scientists believe that it contains genetic code with links to deafness, cystic fibrosis, B-cell lymphoma and other cancers. The chromosome has chromosome has about 1,150 genes and 940 'pseudogenes,' regions that appear similar to genes but are inactivated for some reason. We'll talk about the project to decode chromosome 7, and what it might mean for biological and medical research.

Then, we'll turn our attention to past ground-breaking biological science, and a conversation with J. Michael Bishop, co-winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Bishop shared the award with Harold Varmus "for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes." The work has helped shape scientists' understanding of mechanisms for cancer tumor development. We'll talk with Bishop about his work, his life in science since then, and his new book, "How to Win the Nobel Prize."

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Guests:
Richard Wilson
Director, Genome Sequencing Center
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri

J. Michael Bishop, M.D.
Author, "How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science" (Harvard University Press, 2003)
Chancellor
University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, California

Books/Articles Discussed:
 

"The DNA sequence of human chromosome 7," RK Wilson et al. Nature 424, 157 - 164 (10 July 2003).

"How to Win the Nobel Prize : An Unexpected Life in Science" by J. Michael Bishop. Harvard Univ Press, 2003.

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Related Links:
Human Chromosome 7
The Chromosome 7 Project
National Human Genome Research Institute - Genome Researchers Analyze Chromosome 7

WU team helps finish analysis of important chromosome
Scientists' Map of Chromosome 7 , May Help Study of Diseases

J. Michael Bishop - Nobel Lecture
Medicine 1989
PBS - The Nobel : Visions of Our Century
J. Michael Bishop

This segment produced by Karin Vergoth
 


 

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