Shaw laureate eyes an even greater prize

A joint winner of the Shaw Prize in life science and medicine is confident that his findings can one day be used to help develop a new way of fighting cancer.

Professor Peter Walter, an expert in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, visited the city last week to collect the US$1 million prize alongside Kyoto University's Professor Kazutoshi Mori.

The two academics, working independently, both discovered the existence of a cell-signalling pathway called "unfolded protein response", by which cells regulate protein production. The Shaw Prize judges described their research as "one of the most fascinating detective stories of modern biology".

And Walter believes that, of all the fields that could benefit from their findings, they are most optimistic it can be used to develop ways to tackle cancers that affect tissue, including blood.

"We are isolating small molecules that can be used in human drugs," said Walter. "The happiest moment would be if one of these drugs actually worked in a disease and that can help real people."

The German scientist said there was good evidence to show that protein response was involved in cancers. Imbalances or problems in the production and processing of proteins are the broad cause of several diseases, including certain forms of cancer and diabetes.