Pioneering research by a Nobel prize-winning Welsh scientist has made it into an illustrious poll of the top ten discoveries from UK universities.
Professor Martin Evans, Cardiff University’s President, was the first scientist to identify embryonic stem cells, and in 2007 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for discoveries in this field and DNA recombination in mammals.
Placed ninth in a list that includes Watson and Crick’s ground-breaking DNA work, genetic fingerprinting and the creation of the first working computer, it was predicted that in future Professor Evans’ findings would be even higher up the list.
His discoveries are now applied in virtually all areas of biomedicine, and have given hope to sufferers of diseases such as Huntingdon’s.
Describing his discovery, Sir Martin said: "I grew these control cells out and when I looked down the microscope, I saw stem cells growing. That was the Eureka moment – I knew immediately what I’d got".