Lithuania: Vilnius University professor may get Nobel Prize

Vilnius University professor Virginijus Šikšnys who has patented a gene editing technology stands a good chance of being awarded the Nobel Prize, the university’s rector professor Arturas Žukauskas says.

The rector said he was aware that the Nobel committee last year considered a Nobel Prize for the invention, however, did not include it due to a high number of other applicants.

In his words, the Warren Alpert Fund of the Harvard University’s Medical School awarded a prize to five researchers including Siksnys last year. The Nobel Prize is awarded to the maximum number of three scientists.

“Today there is a 60 percent chance that Siksnys, professor of the Vilnius University’s Institute of Biotechnologies, will receive the Nobel Prize in the course of a few years,” Zukauskas told the Friday’s edition of the weekly magazine Veidas.