Scientific progress is like a relay race where each new advancement builds on the work of others. Over the years, many discoveries and technologies have made significant strides forward in our journey of understanding. Some of this work is recognized each year with the announcement of the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine. Though it is impossible to recognize every critical, deserving innovator and idea, the CAS Science Team has identified a number of discoveries with the potential to provide extensive benefits to the scientific community and the broader world. Could one of them be the next Nobel winner?

It is surprising that the chemical synthesis of DNA has not won a Nobel prize because it transformed DNA synthesis from a specialized exploration into a widely used research, diagnostic, and forensic tool. This breakthrough dramatically advanced biological research and helped launch the biotechnology industry. Marvin H. Caruthers developed methods for the phosphoramidite synthesis of DNA, which efficiently and accurately assembled nucleotides into short strands of DNA, enabling genetic engineering of new biopharmaceuticals, forensic DNA fingerprinting, and the human genome project. It is used today by scientists for many different aspects of biomedical research including genetic sequencing, drug and vaccine developments, disease diagnostics, and pathogen tests such as COVID-19 tests. This technology was also critical for the development of other biomedical techniques like the polymerase chain reaction, which is used to amplify DNA to study in greater detail.

Since Caruthers pioneered these tools, CAS has indexed more than 80,000 documents on DNA synthesis. CAS has indexed 243 documents authored by Dr. Caruthers, including over 30 patents. The foundational publication that shared this idea with the world, “Deoxynucleoside phosphoramidites—A new class of key intermediates for deoxypolynucleotide synthesis” has been cited over 3400 times.

Have another discovery that we missed? Let us know! Join the conversation and comment on the most overlooked topics for the Nobel with us on Linkedin.

Photo credits: © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Nanaka Adachi NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Wed. 13 Sep 2023.

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