ORNL Research Ties to 3 Nobel Prizes in 2025

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From the discovery of a mutant mouse to the frontier of quantum computing and new molecular frameworks, research conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) connects to three of the 2025 Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics, and chemistry. The honors underscore how curiosity-driven research at ORNL continues to drive global scientific breakthroughs.

Why it matters

The Nobel Prizes awarded in 2025 highlight the outsized impact that ORNL's long-running research programs have had on advancing fundamental scientific knowledge across multiple disciplines. The lab's pioneering work in areas like mammalian genetics, quantum computing, and materials science have laid critical groundwork for major discoveries recognized at the highest levels.

The details

ORNL's Mouse House, established in the late 1940s by husband-and-wife geneticists William and Liane Russell, played a key role in the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Russells' observation of a mutant "scurfy" mouse led to the discovery of the FOXP3 gene, a master regulator of regulatory T cells that is central to the Nobel-winning work on autoimmunity by Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi. ORNL's research programs in quantum computing and materials science also laid foundations for the 2025 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry.

• The Mouse House was established at ORNL in the late 1940s.
• In 1949, the Russells observed the "scurfy" mouse mutation.
• The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Brunkow, Ramsdell and Sakaguchi.