Farmington Scientist Top Contender for Nobel Prize

Charles Lee of the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington is a top contender for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, according to a Thomson Reuters study.

Lee is a professor and scientific director of the laboratory, which is located at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

Lee has been nominated along with Stephen W. Scherer of the University of Toronto and Michael H. Wigler of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for research that clarifies how genetic variations link to disease, according to a Reuters press release.

The prize winner will be announced on Oct. 6 at the earliest, according to the Nobel Prize website.

Reuters also predicts that two other teams are top contenders for the prize in the specific category. Reuters has successfully predicted 35 Nobel Prize winners since 2002.

“Scientific literature citations are one of the greatest dividends of a researcher’s intellectual investment,” said Basil Moftah, president of Thomson Reuters IP & Science. “Our aggregation and analysis of citation information provides unique insight into individuals contributing highly impactful work and enables us to identify candidates likely to receive a Nobel Prize.”

The following is from a Reuters press release and explains the methodology for predictions:

The annual Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates study is based on an analysis of proprietary data within the Web of ScienceTM -- the premier global search and discovery platform for the sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities--which identifies the most influential researchers in the categories of chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, and economics. After a thorough review of citations, along with various qualitative measures, Thomson Reuters analysts identify the highest-impact researchers to be included among its Citation Laureates, who are likely winners of the Nobel Prize now or in the future.

Photo courtesy of Dionysios Theofilopoulos, Wikimedia Commons.