This Week in Kentucky History
Phillip A. Sharp receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine

December 10th, 1993, Pendleton County, Kentucky native Phillip A. Sharp is a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in molecular genetics. Sharp graduated from Union College in Knox County with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics. After earning his PhD, Sharp continued his career at MIT and other biotechnology companies. In 1993 Sharp became a co-recipient for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on RNA splicing, which found that there are discontinuous gene structures in mammalian cells. This work fundamentally changed the understanding of gene structure, as scientists had previously thought that DNA structures were continuous and served as direct templates for genetic information. The discovery of RNA splicing indicated that genes contain some segments without genetic information that are edited by cells. These discoveries have been crucial in attempting to find therapies for many diseases including cancer. I’m Daniel Burge, the Associate Editor for The Register, a scholarly journal of the Kentucky Historical Society.

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