October 7, 2013

American scientists James E. Rothman of Yale University and Randy W. Schekman of the University of California at Berkeley shared the 2013 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with German-born biologist Thomas Sudhof of Stanford University for  discoveries showing how insulin and other vital materials are transported and delivered to targets within and between cells of the body. This extremely precise transport system is essential for health.

Cells differ greatly in size and shape and in the jobs they do. But all cells have certain features, and each cell can be thought of as a tiny chemical factory. It has a control center that tells it what to do and when. It has power plants for generating the energy it needs to function, and it has machinery for making needed products or performing essential services. Within each cell, a transportation control system ensures that necessary substances are delivered to the right place at the right time and so prevents the cellular factory from breaking down.

Working separately, the three scientists investigated the networks of tiny cavities, called vesicles, that transport materials within and sometimes between individual cells of the body. Rothman studied the various proteins that enable vesicles to deliver such necessary substances as hormones or enzymes to the appropriate target within the cell. Schekman identified the genes that control the cellular transport system. Similar genes are found in all animals, from simple yeast to human beings. Sudhof studied how chemical signals from nerve cells instruct vesicles to release the substances they contain. Such signaling is necessary so that the thousands of complex reactions that take place in the body occur in a precise manner.

The three scientists’ research offers many practical medical applications. Disturbances in the cell’s internal transport system are thought to play a role in diabetes and various neurological and immune system disorders.

Additional World Book article:

• Nobel, Alfred Bernhard