A glance at the Nobel Prize for chemistry

WHO WON?

Americans Robert Lefkowitz of the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and Brian Kobilka of the Stanford University School of Medicine in California

FOR WHAT?

The two won the prize for their discoveries in an important family of receptors, known as G-protein-coupled receptors.

THE SIGNIFICANCE?

Learning about G-protein-coupled receptors will help scientists come up with better drugs since about half of all medications including beta blockers and

antihistamines act on these receptors.

WHAT THEY SAID?

Lefkowitz: “I’m feeling very, very excited…I did not hear (the phone ring)…I wear earplugs, so my wife gave me an elbow. And there it was. …. It was a total shock and surprise.” Kobilka: “They passed the phone around and congratulated me. I guess they do that so you actually believe them. When one person calls you, it can be a joke, but when five people with convincing Swedish accents call you, then it isn’t a joke.”

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