Who will win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry?

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Thomson Reuters recently released a list of predicted Nobel Prize winners for 2016, identifying 24 scientists who are likely to be favored by the Nobel Committee, one from each of 5 **. Every year, before the official announcement of the Nobel Prizes is made, Thomson Reuters predicts the three researchers most likely to win the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Economics. Since 2002, Thomson Reuters has successfully predicted 39 Nobel Prize winners; although it cannot be said to be 100% accurate, its predictions hold considerable value as a reference. Among the top candidates for the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry were George Church from Harvard Medical School and Feng Zhang from MIT, who have made outstanding contributions to CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. Physiology/Medicine: James P. Allison, professor of immunology at the University of Houston in the United States; Jeffrey A. Bluestone, professor of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco; Craig B. Thompson, CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. These three individuals explained how CD28 and CTLA-4 control T-cell activation and regulate immune response. Gordon J. Freeman, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; Tasuku Honjo, an adjunct professor at Kyoto University in Japan; and Arlene H. Sharpe, a professor of comparative pathology, microbiology, and immunobiology at Harvard Medical School as well as a member of the pathology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the United States. These three researchers elucidated the function of programmed death molecule-1 (PD-1), and their findings greatly contributed to the development of cancer immunotherapy. Michael N. Hall, Professor at the Center for Biology, University of Basel, Switzerland; David M. Sabatini, Professor of Biology at MIT, United States; Stuart L. Schreiber, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Harvard University, United States. These three individuals discovered the growth regulator targets mTOR and mTORC1. Physics: Marvin L. Cohen, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States. He was dedicated to the theoretical study of solid materials and the prediction of their properties, among whose most important contributions is the empirical pseudopotential method. Ronald W.P. Drever, a physics professor at the California Institute of Technology; Kip S. Thorne, a professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology; and Rainer Weiss, a physics professor at MIT – these three individuals developed the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which made it possible to detect gravitational waves. Celso Grebogi, professor at the School of Natural Sciences and Computer Science, University of Aberdeen, UK; Edward Ott, professor in the Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, USA; and James A. Yorke, professor of mathematics and physics at the University of Maryland, USA – these three researchers used the OGY (Ott, Grebogi and Yorke) method to describe the principles of chaotic systems. Chemistry: George M. Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School in the United States, and Feng Zhang, a professor of biomedical engineering at MIT in the United States. These two individuals applied the CRISPR-cas9 gene-editing technology to mouse and human cells. Lu Yuming, a professor of medical and chemical pathology at the **Chinese University in Hong Kong, discovered a method for detecting fetal DNA in maternal plasma, bringing about a revolutionary change in non-invasive prenatal testing. Hiroshi Maeda, professor at Sojo University in Japan and honorary professor at Kumamoto Medical University; Yasuhiro Matsumura, director of the Treatment Development Department at the National Cancer Center in Japan. These two researchers discovered that polymeric drugs can enhance the enhanced permeability and retention effect of medications, and this discovery is crucial for cancer treatment. Economics: Olivier J. Blanchard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in the United States and an emeritus professor in the Department of Economics at MIT, has made contributions to macroeconomics. Edward P. Lazear, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in the United States and a professor of human resources at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He developed his unique theory of “personnel economics”. Marc J. Melitz, a professor of political economy at Harvard University in the United States, has provided a new perspective on firm heterogeneity and international trade. The dates for the announcement of this year’s Nobel Prizes (in Beijing time) are as follows: Physiology or Medicine Prize: October 3rd at 17:30; Physics Prize: October 4th at 17:45; Chemistry Prize: October 5th at 17:45; Peace Prize: October 7th at 17:00; Economics Prize: October 10th at 17:45. Due to the economic crisis, starting in 2012, the total prize money for the Nobel Prizes was reduced from 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately 7.8 million RMB) to 8 million Swedish kronor (approximately 6.24 million RMB) last year; the exact amount for this year has not yet been announced.