The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been jointly awarded to three scientists, James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Südhof, for their work on how cells organise their transport system.

Each cell produces and exports molecules and these molecules are transported around the cell in small packages called vesicles. The three Nobel Laureates have discovered the molecular principles that govern how these vesicles are delivered to the right place at the right time in the cell.

Schekman discovered a set of genes that were required for vesicle traffic, Rothman unravelled the protein machinery that allows vesicles to fuse with their targets to permit transfer of cargo, and Südhof revealed how signals instruct vesicles to release their cargo with precision.

Through their discoveries, Rothman, Schekman and Südhof 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.

Rothman is currently Professor and Chairman in the Department of Cell Biology in the faculty of Yale University.

Schekman is currently Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell biology at the University of California Berkeley, he is also an investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Südhof is currently Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University.