Four innovations have been shortlisted for the world’s biggest technology award, the 2008 Millennium Technology Prize.
The DNA fingerprinting technique developed by British geneticist Sir Alec Jeffreys has revolutionized the field of forensic science, as well as playing an important role in the resolution of paternity and immigration disputes. Today DNA fingerprints are examined everywhere, even in portable laboratories, and the equipment for genetic fingerprinting is being made by dozens of companies around the world.
Following is a quote from Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, of the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester:
"This is a huge honour, especially as the Millennium Prize is the premier international award for technology, and is a wonderful recognition for DNA fingerprinting and all its applications."
Sir Alec said being shortlisted was a great honour and "a great recognition for DNA technology and the way it has progressed over the last 24 years".
Speaking to BBC News he said: "If nothing else, DNA has captured the public's imagination; it's out there every single day in papers and on the television; and the technology has reached out and touched the lives of 20 million people."
He added: "Every single time this has happened it's a drama for that person, in terms of a DNA test; whether it's a father learning about his son, an immigrant family being reunited or an innocent man being saved off death row."
Sir Alec's innovation has been described as a "Eureka" moment, when he looked at the X-ray of a DNA experiment he was working on in September 1984 and saw both similarities and differences in his technician's family DNA.
He said the only people not celebrating this honour were "criminals who were being caught thanks to DNA fingerprinting".
One great challenge for DNA identification, he explained, was to reduce the time lag between taking a DNA test and getting a result, or fingerprint. "It can be as quick as a few hours, but if it could be got down to a second, to real time, then imagine the possibilities in security applications" he said.
The innovation of Desurvire, Giles and Payne, erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA), has revolutionized the world of high-speed and long-distance communication. Optical fibre networks constitute a global spider web, used to transmit telephone signals and Internet communication. Amplifiers are needed to boost the degraded light signals. EDFA is a device that amplifies an optical signal directly, without the need to first convert it to an electrical signal. The work from Desurvire, Giles and Payne reduced the cost and “unleashed” the bandwidth of long distance fiber-optics networks.
Robert Langer's contributions to medicine and biotechnology are highly recognized. He is a pioneer of many new technologies, including transdermal delivery systems, which allow the administration of drugs through the skin without needles or other invasive methods. His work in drug-releasing polymers eventually led to the creation of a novel way to treat brain cancer. His work has also brought about significant advances in tissue engineering, including synthetic replacement for biological tissues.
Andrew Viterbi's fundamental contributions to communications technology and theory have touched our everyday lives. He is best known for developing Viterbi Algorithm, a technique that has advanced the design and implementation of modern wireless communication systems. For instance mobile phone networks rely on the algorithm to eliminate noise that would otherwise make communication almost impossible. There is a detector utilizing Viterbi algorithm in the disk drive of every computer and high capacity MP3 player. It is also used in outer space communications, speech recognition and DNA analysis.
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Read more about the laureates and their innovations and see video presentations online at http://www.millenniumprize.fi/en/laureates
