Axel wants to donate money award

US researcher Richard Axel, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday, said he would like to donate his 1.1-million-euro prize to a charity.

US researchers Richard Axel, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday, said he would like to donate his 1.1-million-euro (1.3-million-dollar) prize to a charity.

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"I'd like to find a charity that is commensurate with the spirit of the award," Axel told a press conference in California.

Axel, along with US researcher Linda B. Buck were awarded the prestigious prize for their pioneering work on mammals' sense of smell.

Axel, 58, works at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at New York's Columbia University, and Buck, 57, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

The researchers discovered a large family of a thousand genes, and a corresponding number of olfactory receptor types.