Nobel for pioneers of Lego-like "click chemistry"
STORY: Bertozzi was awarded the prize alongside Morten Meldal and Barry Sharpless for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create new compounds and that offer insight into cell biology.
The technologies known as click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry are now used around the world "to explore cells and track biological processes," the award-giving body said in a statement.
The field of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry has been harnessed to improve the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals now being tested in clinical trials, along with a host of health, agricultural and industrial applications.
"It's overwhelming ... I am somewhere between shock and joy," Bertozzi said from California after the academy reached her by telephone with the news she had won.
