Thanks to everyone who voted in our Sweet 16 round of October Madness, Sigma Xi's Nobel Prize prediction contest!
Voting is open until September 10, 2017, for the Elite 8 round.
Make sure to vote to keep your favorites in the running!
Elite 8 Voting
The Elite 8 chemistry match-ups are:
1.
M. Stanley Whittingham and John Goodenough for research leading to the development of the lithium ion battery
vs.
Carolyn Bertozzi for her contributions to chemical reactions in live cells in organisms that lead to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches
2.
Dennis Lo Yuk-ming for detecting fetal DNA in maternal plasma, a revolution in noninvasive prenatal testing
vs.
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski for his contributions to atom transfer radical polymerization
3.
Stuart Schrieber for pioneering chemical insights into the logic of signal transduction and gene regulation that led to new therapeutics and for applications of small-molecule probes
vs.
Kyriacos Nicolaou for advancing the field of chemical synthesis
4.
Harry Gray and Steve Lippard for pioneering work in the field of bioinorganic chemistry
vs.
Jacqueline K. Barton for pioneering the application of transition metal complexes to probe recognition and reactions of double helical DNA
The Elite 8 physics match-ups are:
1.
Marvin L. Cohen for theoretical studies of solid materials and prediction of their properties
vs.
Celso Grebogi, Edward Ott, and James A. Yorke for describing a control theory of chaotic systems
2.
Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz for the first discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star
vs.
Sandra M. Faber for leadership in numerous path-breaking studies of extra-galactic astronomy and galaxy formation
3.
Caesar Saloma for contributions to photonics and signal processing
vs.
Shinya Inoué for contributions to visualization of processes within living cells using light microscopy
4.
Alexander Polyakov for work in quantum field and string theory
vs.
James Peebles for work on cosmic microwave background radiation and physical basis for hot big bang theory
The Elite 8 physiology or medicine match-ups are:
1.
Emanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna, and Feng Zhang for CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing
vs.
Gordon Freeman, Tasuku Honjo, and Arlene Sharpe for elucidating programmed cell death-1 and its pathway, which has advanced cancer immunotherapy
2.
Craig Venter, Eric Lander, and Fancis Collins for genomics and sequencing
vs.
Bert Vogelstein and Robert Weinberg for advancements in identifying rogue cancer genes and their roles in health and disease
3.
James Allison for work on immune checkpoint bloackade treatment
vs.
Matthias Gromeier and Gordana Vlahovic for using a genetically engineered polio virus (PVS-RIPO) to attack gliobastoma, a brain cancer, and discovering that it seeks out and attaches to receptors that are highly common across tumor types, while leaving normal cells alone
4.
Melvyn Greaves for pioneering methods that distinguish different forms of leukemia, allowing doctors to tailor treatment to each child
vs.
Jacques Miller for revealing the key role of the thymus in controlling the body's immune system
Sweet 16 Voting Results*
Chemistry
Physics
Physiology or Medicine
*Ties were broken in this round by coin toss.
Heather Thorstensen is manager of communications for Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society.