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Nobel Prize in Medicine for three discoverers of therapies against parasitic infections

Japanese Satoshi Omura and William C. Campbell Irish were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the development of a new class of drugs against infections caused by parasites, shared with China Youyou Your discovered a new therapy against malaria prize.

 Omura, born in 1935 in Yamanashi Prefecture (Japan), is from 2007 and distinguished professor emeritus special coordinator of the research project for drug discovery from natural products at the Institute of Life Sciences of Kitasato University.

He received his doctorate in 1968 in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tokyo and two years later in Chemical Sciences from the University of Tokyo.

In 1965 he began his collaboration with the Kitasato Institute in Japan first as a researcher and then held various stalls- culminating in his appointment in 1990 as president.

Between 2008 and 2012, the microbiologist was president emeritus of the same center.

Considered a global expert in the field of bioorganic chemistry, Omura has been honored with several awards for the impact of their work in improving human health, especially for the discovery, development, biosynthesis and chemical handling microogranismos helpful derived from natural origin.

He is also a member of several international scientific academies, in some honorary office.

Campbell, born in 1930 in Ramelton (Ireland), is emeritus researcher at Drew University in Madison, in the US state of New Jersey.

He received his BA in 1952 from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland and received his doctorate in 1957 in the United States by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Between 1957 and 1990 he worked for the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research, since 1984 as principal scientist and director of Research and Development Test.

Campbell, expert biology of the parasite, acquired one crop Omura of a certain group of bacteria, predominantly present in soils and produce bioactive antibacterial compounds, of which efficacy explored.


The contributions of both scientists led to the discovery of a new class of drugs extraordinarily effective against diseases caused by parasites.

You, born in Ningbo (China) in 1930, is since 2007 scientific director of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

He graduated in 1955 from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Beijing Medical University.

Between 1965 and 1978 he was assistant professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine between 1979 and 1984 as associate professor and from 1985 as professor.

The discovery of artemisinin is, he said scientific itself in 2011 to receive the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, a "small step in the effort to fight human disease."

Tu, which began in 1955 to study medicinal herbs, surrounded himself with a team that "inherited and developed the essence of traditional Chinese medicine using modern science and technology" and which discovered and developed successfully the clinical application of the artemisinin, "a gift of traditional Chinese medicine to mankind."

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