Albert Lasker
Basic Medical Research Award
H. Gobind Khorana and Marshall Nirenberg
For their contributions toward deciphering the genetic code.
Dr. Nirenberg made the original observation that certain parts of the genetic code—the "alphabet" of reproduction and heredity—are based on nucleic acid messages, the blueprint of life.
His pioneering experiments led him and other scientists to a more extensive examination of the entire genetic code, and to an understanding of the relation between amino acids and nucleotide triplets—compounds which provide information for the life-building process.
Since these amino acids are incorporated into proteins as directed by these messages, Dr. Nirenberg's studies have served as a basis for consideration of the evolutionary life process at the chemical level. They also have given rise to a better understanding of normal and abnormal growth processes, such as occur in cancer, viral infections, and congenital disorders of metabolism.
Dr. Khorana's work is a brilliant exploration of the detailed mechanism of the processes of heredity. His experiments confirmed the original observations of Dr. Nirenberg.
In addition, Dr. Khorana used chemically synthesized DNA molecules to make messenger RNA molecules. Recently, he has embarked on the synthesis of a gene, using chemical and enzymatic methods, and has been moving steadily toward the imposing goal of creating a gene in the laboratory.
Thus, Dr. Marshall Nirenberg and Dr. H. Gobind Khorana, two of the outstanding biochemists of our day, working independently, have made key contributions toward deciphering the genetic code. They have shown how four chemical symbols—the four nucleotide bases of DNA and RNA, taken in groups of three—provide the blueprint for the manufacture of the body proteins, which, in the final analysis, determine the characteristics of living beings and of health or disease.
The 1968 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is given to Dr. Marshall Nirenberg and to Dr. H. Gobind Khorana for their outstanding achievements in deciphering the genetic code, and thus revealing one of the most fundamental and intriguing secrets of life.
William Windle
For his basic discoveries in the field of developmental biology.
Professor Windle's pioneering research on the physiology of the embryo and the newborn has extended our knowledge of one of the major causes of cerebral palsy and mental retardation in children, and has pointed the way to their prevention and therapy.
Through Dr. Windle's most recent investigations, new knowledge has been acquired of the relationship between changes in behavior and deterioration of the brain, which sheds new hope and light in providing treatment and rehabilitation for brain-damaged children.
Professor Windle discovered a consistent and precise pattern of brain damage following asphyxiation and resuscitation of the infant at birth. He found that this suffocation is a frequent cause of mental retardation and cerebral palsy.
He and his colleagues were also the first to correlate this pathology with the clinical symptoms of cerebral palsy, and the first to associate it with the condition known as "kernicterus," in which specific centers of the brain are colored yellow.
Dr. Windle has made basic discoveries in the field of developmental biology, especially on the structure and function of embryos and newborn infants.
For these achievements and especially his contribution to improvements in the treatment of brain-damaged infants, so that congenital defects are less severe and more manageable, Dr. William Windle is given the 1968 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.