Vienna - Being awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine may have
a surprising side-effect for Italian-born Mario Capecchi, 70. A
68-year-old woman living in Finkenstein, Austria claims to have
discovered her long-lost half-brother in the Nobel laureate, Austrian
media reported.
Marlene Bonelli, born in 1939, had been adopted by the Southern
Tyrolian family Bonelli after their mother, Lucia (Lucy) Ramberg was
deported to the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.
Her older half-brother was taken to safety to a farmer's family
near Bolzano, but after the money his mother had provided ran out, he
was left to fend for himself on the streets or living in orphanages
for more than four years, almost dying of malnutrition.
Ramberg survived the death camp, was re-united with her son after
a long search and emigrated to the United States.
The molecular geneticist Capecchi, a Howard Hughes Medical
Institute Investigator and Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics
and Biology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, was one of
three co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine.
The three scientists were awarded the prize for their
groundbreaking work regarding the principles for introducing specific
gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.
After the high honours for Capecchi became public, relatives in
South Tyrol showed Bonelli an old photo of the Nobel laureate,
claiming he was her brother. 'I only found out now and I am happy to
know that he is still alive and especially that our mother
remarried,' Bonelli said.
Now she hopes to meet her half-brother, but did not want to impose
on him, the woman said. 'I read about him in the media, but personal
contact with him and his family would be more important. With a
little luck this could happen,' she was quoted as saying.
If the meeting comes about, the elderly lady doesn't want any
publicity. According to an ORF TV report aired on Friday evening,
documents exist to shore up Bonelli's claims.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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