Wallis WangThe visualization of gene transcription - a fundamental process of life - helped tackle the Covid pandemic and won two biologists this year's Shaw Prize in the life science and medicine category. Gene transcription is the process of copying a segment of DNA - a person's genetic blueprint - into Messenger RNA before proteins can be produced. Cramer and Nogales' research revealed each step in the process, discovering how proper gene transcription promotes health while dysregulation causes disease. Tumor cells are "addicted to transcriptions" during the spread and tumor growth, he said. A number of substances have been developed to target gene transcription machinery of tumor cells or viruses to cure diseases.

Source: The Standard November 15, 2023 19:12 UTC