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Nobel prize winners study hypertension

Oliver Smithies, 2007 Nobel prize winner in medicine co-discovered gene targeting, which can be used to study hypertension and other genetic disorders.

Smithies told reporters, "My work was never toward getting the Nobel Prize. It was solving a problem, and enjoying the solution."

"I've always wanted to help with the common diseases, not the rare diseases, working in relation to hypertension, for example," Smithies said.

Gene targeting

Gene targeting can be defined as a method for modifying the structure of a specific gene without removing it from its natural environment in the chromosome in a living cell. It enables scientists to inactivate or modify particular genes in mice.

Gene targeting has helped scientists research heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

The Nobel prize winners

Smithies shared the Nobel prize with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and Sir Martin J. Evans of Cardiff University in Wales.

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