Nobel Prize for chemistry awarded to American, British researchers

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Wednesday to scientists making advances in cancer research.

The prize was awarded to Frances Arnold for her research in the "directed evolution of enzymes" and jointly to George Smith and Gregory Winter for their work with the "phage display of peptides and antibodies."

Arnold's research can be used for health-related applications as well as industrial. Her research with enzymes speeds up the reaction and could replace more toxic catalysts.

Smith and Winter's work with antibodies will lead to safer, greener cancer treatments with fewer side effects.

Arnold is a professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. Smith is a professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Missouri. Winter is a Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded since 1901 and can include up to three different laureates.

Last year's winners were three scientists -- Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson -- honored for developments in simplifying and improving the imaging of biomolecules.

On Monday, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet gave this year's medicine award to cancer researchers James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo.

On Tuesday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences gave this year's physics award jointly to Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou for their work with high-intensity, ultra-short laser pulses, and Arthur Ashkin for his work with optical tweezers.

The Nobel Prize for Peace will be awarded Friday.