The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has awarded The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to three scientists James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof. The most coveted award was announced by the Nobelforsamlingen (The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet) on Monday 7 October 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Nobel Medical Institute awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine every year. The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is jointly awarded to three scientists James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet said in a press release that The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honors three scientists who have solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport system. Each cell is a factory that produces and exports molecules. For instance, insulin is manufactured and released into the blood and chemical signals called neurotransmitters are sent from one nerve cell to another. These molecules are transported around the cell in small packages called vesicles. The three Nobel laureates have discovered the molecular principles that govern how this cargo is delivered at the right time in the cell.

Randy Schekman discovered a set of genes that were required for vesicle traffic. James Rothman unraveled protein machinery that allows vesicles to fuse with their targets to permit transfer of cargo.Thomas Sudhof revealed how signals instruct vesicles to release their cargo with precision. 

Through their discoveries James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof have revealed 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.

James E. Rothman was born in 1950 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA. He is currently Professor and Chairman in the Department of Cell Biology at the Yale University in New Heaven, Connecticut, USA.

Randy W. Schekman was born in 1948 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is currently Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley. 

Thomas C. Sudhof was born in 1955 in Gottingen, Germany. He is currently Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University.