ITMO University
2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: From Primordial Soup to Next-Gen Medicine
This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry is going to Henri B. Kagan (France) and Kenso Soai (Japan) “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” The laureates’ research will allow scientists to control chemical reactions and create organic molecules with a specific orientation. Such molecules have a special purpose in pharmaceutics, where the necessary biological activity is produced by only one of the mirror-image isomers. What are chiral molecules? How do they affect the human body? And why will the new discovery lead to the creation of next-gen medicines? ITMO NEWS looked into it with Ekaterina Skorb, the head of ITMO’s School of Life Sciences and the Infochemistry Scientific Center.
