“Cell Transport & Delivery System” Fetches Medicine Nobel for 3 Scientists

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to two Americans, James E. Rothman (Yale University), Randy W. Schekman (University of California at Berkeley), and a German, Thomas C. Südhof (Stanford University) for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells. The three will share the coveted 8 m Swedish Kroner ($1.2 m) prize money for their independent work on how tiny membrane-bound sacs called vesicles pass through the cell compartments and deliver the cargo of chemicals to the right address. Vesicle transport throws insight into disease processes. “The three Nobel Laureates have discovered a fundamental process in cell physiology. These discoveries have had a major impact on our understanding of how cargo is delivered with timing and precision within and outside the cell,” the Nobel Committee said in its press release. Randy W. Schekman discovered genes encoding proteins that are key regulators of vesicle traffic.  James E. Rothman discovered that a protein complex enables vesicles to fuse with their target membranes. Thomas C. Südhof studied how signals are transmitted from one nerve cell to another in the brain, and how calcium controls this process.