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Home Research landscape German Nobel laureates Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard: 1995 - Physiology, Medicine
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard: 1995 - Physiology, Medicine
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Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
Year & Category
1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (jointly with the Americans Edward B. Lewis and Eric F. Wieschaus)
Prize motivation
"For their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"
At the time of the award she worked at
Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Tübingen, Federal Republic of Germany
About her research
Finding the crucial genes
In 1978, at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus began trying to find the decisive genes for the early embryonic development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Their numerous and rapidly developing offspring make the fruit fly the ideal research subject, especially as genetically altered individuals (mutants) are easily detected. Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus produced and examined approximately 20,000 Drosophila mutants. As reward for all their work they were able to find the 15 crucial genes.
Serving science and society
Geneticist Edward Lewis pointed out the similarity between the genes of the fruit fly and human genes. Through her later work on zebrafish, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard gained valuable insights into the developmental genes of vertebrates. The similarity in the developmental genes of certain animals and humans is of significant interest to medical research and connected to hopes that this may provide new knowledge about the pathogenesis of cancer. Outside her concrete research work, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard also rendered outstanding services to science. In 2004, for example, she established a foundation in her name which supports young mothers of all nationalities in their careers as researchers.
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
The main topics of scientific research conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying spatial information within the embryo, communication between cells in the induction process, as well as the formation and differentiation of tissues and organs.
www.eb.tuebingen.mpg.de
Last Update: 09 Feb 2019
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