Phillip Sharp

Phillip Sharp shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993 for the co-discovery of RNA splicing, a fundamental mechanism by which genes are expressed and regulated. His discovery that genes are split and that introns must be removed from RNA transcripts to produce functional mRNAs transformed molecular biology. This understanding has been essential for comprehending cancer gene mutations, aberrant splicing in tumors, and the development of RNA-based therapeutics including mRNA cancer vaccines and splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides. His foundational science underlies modern RNA oncology.