October 7, 2013

Image Caption: The three 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winners. (Left to right) James E Rothman - Credit: Yale University / Randy Schekman - Credit: H. Goren HHMI / Thomas C. Sudhof - Credit: S. Fisch

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Three scientists at American universities were awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work describing the cellular machinery behind the transport and secretion of proteins in the bodys cells.

Based on their experiments with yeast, the scientists Randy W. Schekman from the University of California at Berkeley, Thomas C. Sdhof from Stanford University and James E. Rothman from Yale University were able to reveal new details about a fundamental process in cell physiology.

In a statement, the 50-member Nobel Assembly praised the scientists for describing the exquisitely precise control system for the transport and delivery of cellular cargo. Disturbances in this system have deleterious effects and contribute to conditions such as neurological diseases, diabetes, and immunological disorders.

My first reaction was, Oh, my god! said Schekman, who was awakened with the good news at 1:30 a.m. PST. That was also my second reaction.

Schekman and Rothman worked separately to describe the cellular system that ferries hormones and enzymes out and grows the cell membrane surface so the cell can divide and multiply. The system utilizes tiny bubbles on the cell membrane to shuttle molecules about the cell interior and is so important that mistakes in the system inevitably lead to death.

Ten percent of the proteins that cells make are secreted, including growth factors and hormones, neurotransmitters by nerve cells and insulin from pancreas cells, Schekman said.

In what seemed like a questionable decision at the time, Schekman began investigating this system in yeast starting in 1976. During the following years, he discovered more and more details on how yeast cells arrange, wrap up and send proteins using membrane bubbles, a highly important process in yeast communication and in mating. The process also delivers receptors to the surface of the yeast cell, its primary way of controlling the intake of nutrients.

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Three American Scientists Win 2013 Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine