The American engineer Frances Arnold just won the Millennium Technology Prize for developing the so-called directed evolution, a method that has created new enzymes laboratory for use in industrial catalysts, household detergents and even fuel from sugar.
Arnold is the first woman to win this prestigious prize, awarded by the Technology Academy Finland (TAF its acronym in English) in even-numbered years since 2004 and is endowed with a million euros (over US $ 1.1 million).
the spirit of the award is quoted reward projects that “have changed the lives of people for the better”.
According to the Academy, discussions began in November 2015, but “there was only one candidate that stood out exceptionally” .
Arnold, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), spoke to the BBC before traveling to Helsinki, the Finnish capital, to receive their prize.
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What is the Millennium Technology Prize?
- It is also known as Millennium Prize and is given biannually since 12 years
- It has come to be defined as the “Nobel Prize for Technology”
- is an award source Finnish that rewards projects that contribute in a improving the quality of life
- the first awarded in 2004, was the creator of the World Wide web (WWW), Tim Berners Lee
- other winners include the inventor of LED lights, Shuji Nakamura (2006), the creator of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds (2012) and developer ethical stem cell Shinya Yamanaka (2012)
- the last winner, in 2014, had been the British Stuart Parkin , whose research was key to expand the density data storage.
does
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” from scratch “
Arnold explains that the” basic concept “to create the evolution to develop better enzymes emerged from his lab 20 years ago.
I started from scratch. That investigation was being developed by biochemists and molecular scientists. And I was biochemical engineering.
“Evolution is for me the best designer of all time. And I realized that this must be the algorithm for future designs, to create a new biological code that would be useful for humans “says the researcher.
” I started from scratch . that research was being developed by biochemical and molecular scientists. and I was a biochemical engineer “.
” I knew nothing about that field. had it not been so, probably would not have done that would have understood how difficult it was “.
with its expertise in engineering, Arnold wanted to do new and useful proteins that help solve problems.
so he took the example of how does nature
random mutations
“I observed nature and I said. ‘Well, nature did not design enzymes … How did this happen? ‘ “.
” you make random mutations and analyze a large number of things that have the properties in which you are interested and then you repeat the process, “Arnold said.
“And I repeat, accumulating beneficial changes through generations, much as was done with cats, dogs, cows, chickens or whatever.”
the difference is that instead of reproducing animals, the process of directed evolution works directly with small stretches of DNA and proteins encoding .
in fact, it is used in laboratories around the world and has helped produce many valuable enzymes, including a drug for type 2 diabetes and several catalysts that enable the manufacturing chemicals and fuels from renewable energy .
Arnold is one of the main proponents of this type of “green” industrial chemistry, and is the cofounder of Gevo, a company working in this field.
“we evolve an enzyme that allowed convert sugar plants in this precursor aviation fuel,” says the engineer.
“So we’re making jet fuel from renewable energy “he says.
this sustainable technology, Arnold hopes to continue revolutionizing science.
According to the president of the TAF, Marja Makarow,” reward innovation Frances Arnold is very timely, since many countries-including Finland have aim adopt environmentally clean technologies and grow “.
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