He was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Fire for the discovery of RNA interference. Mello has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 2000.
Mello was born in New Haven, Connecticut on October 18 1960. He was the third child of James and Sally Mello. His father, James Mello, was a paleontologist and his mother, Sally Mello, was an artist. His fathers parents moved to the US from the Portuguese islands of Azores. His parents met while at the Brown University and were the first children in their families to go to college. James Mello was awarded his PhD in paleontology from Yale University in 1962. The Mello family moved to Falls Church in northern Virginia so that James could take a job with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Washington, DC.
After a short time in Falls Church, the family moved to Fairfax, Virginia, when James Mello began work as Assistant Director at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Some of his happiest early memories were holidays with his whole family in Colorado, Wyoming and more often to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
The Mello family enjoyed long talks at the dinner table and this was very important to young Craig Mello. He learned to argue, to listen, and to accept if he was wrong about something. Mello's first few years of grade school were difficult. He was five years old when he started first grade in a local private school. He was too young to enter first grade in the public system. He does not know if he was a slow learner, or just not interested, but he did not do well in school until the seventh grade. In second grade, Mello only pretended that he could read and he was embarrassed of being talked to by the teacher. He enjoyed playing outdoors, in the woods and creeks, more than time spent in the classroom. At this time, his older siblings were great students, so his teacher's wanted him to do well. During these early years, Mello had no doubt that he would be a scientist when he grew up.
After he got his high school diploma, Mello went to Brown University, where he studied biochemistry and molecular biology. After finishing his studies at Brown, Mello went to Boulder, Colorado for more studies, and then to Harvard University. He was awarded his PhD at Harvard in 1990.
In 2006, Mello and Fire were awarded the Nobel Prize for work published in 1998. The paper reports that tiny snippets of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) effectively shut down specific genes, and so caused the destruction of messenger RNA (mRNA) with sequences matching the dsRNA. As a result, the mRNA cannot be translated into protein.
Fire and Mello found that dsRNA was much more effective in gene silencing than the previously described method of RNA interference with single-stranded RNA. Because only small numbers of dsRNA molecules were required for the observed effect, Fire and Mello proposed that a catalytic process was involved. This hypothesis was confirmed by later research.
The Nobel Prize citation, issued by Sweden's Karolinska Institute, said: "This year's Nobel Laureates have discovered a fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information". The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted Nick Hastie, director of the Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit, on the scope and implications of the research:
By year of award:
Vicar of Bray
"The Vicar of Bray" is a satirical song about the career of the Vicar of Bray and how he changes his principles so that he can keep his job in a changing world. Changes are taking place in the state religion through the course of several English monarchs.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (12 January 1918 5 February 2008) was an Indian guru (a teacher of spirituality). He was most famous for his development of Transcendental Meditation. He also was well known for his association with the rock bands, The Beatles and The Beach Boys.
His birth name was either Mahesh Verma Shrivastava or Mahesh Prasad Varma. His parents were Hindus from the.
He was born in Raipur, India. He graduated from Allahabad University in Uttar Pradesh, and began his career as a physicist. His physics work made him interested in the sound vibrations made by spoken syllables, and how those vibrations could change a person's body or consciousness. In time, he became a disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, who was called "Guru Dev". He later became the swami's secretary. He could not become the swami's , because of India's caste system, but he could become a guru on his own. Guru Dev gave him the name "Bal Brahmachari Mahesh". Later he adopted the name Maharishi ("great teacher"), while "yogi" was a name given to teachers of yoga.
Transcendental Meditation (sometimes shortened to "TM") grew out of Guru Dev's teachings, and the Maharishi's own physics studies. A person practices Transcendental Meditation by sitting quietly, and mentally repeating a "", of syllables or names considered or holy in Hinduism. In Transcendental Meditation, the sounds are used purely as sounds independent of any associated meanings in any language. Meditating helps a person to relax, and to concentrate on important things. During this meditation a person transcends conscious thought to a quieter state of mind, and this gives the technique its name.
The Maharishi began what he called the "Spiritual Movement" in 1958. He traveled around the world, teaching Transcendental Meditation to ordinary people. Unlike many gurus, he did not require followers to give up their everyday lives, or move to an to live and study. He believed that helping people to relieve stress and learn how to focus would improve their lives, and in time make a better world. He taught for nearly ten years, with little public notice. He also published a book, "The Science of Being and the Art of Living", and recorded a spoken-word album, that explained his beliefs.
During 1967, during the last months of his ten-year "world tour", he visited England, and people there began to join his Spiritual Regeneration Movement. One person who joined was Pattie Boyd, the wife of George Harrison, who was a member of The Beatles. Harrison had learned to play the sitar, an Indian musical instrument, and was interested in Hinduism. He had not found a guru whose teachings interested him. When Pattie told him about the Maharishi, he became interested, and all four Beatles went to a lecture given by the Maharishi. They sent a message to him, asking to meet in person. All of the Beatles were interested in TM, because it was simple and they could continue on as musicians, instead of having to change their lifestyle. They each joined the movement, and began to promote the Maharishi and his teachings. They even announced that they gave up the use of drugs, which had earlier caused for the band, because of what they learned.
Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was also interested in TM, but had many problems in his personal life. He decided not to join the Beatles when they traveled to Wales to attend a weekend class given by the Maharishi, and stayed home. Later that weekend, Epstein overdosed on sleeping pills, and died in his sleep. The Beatles were very hurt by the news, and worried about what would happen to their careers. Maharishi tried to comfort them, telling them to think happy thoughts about Epstein, and let his spirit find peace.
The Beatles wanted to study with the Maharishi in India. They had just started their own company, Apple Corps, and with Epstein gone they had to work out many details for themselves. They could have found another manager, but decided they did not want one, and looked after Apple personally, until their helpers could take over running the company. Finally in early 1968, they made the trip to India.