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2012 Chemistry Nobel Prize Resources
» Overview The 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Robert J. Lefkowitz of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. and Brian K. Kobilka of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif., “for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors.” Receptor biology and signal transduction explore how a variety of signals over a cell membrane can be transmitted between cells and over large distances within the human body. Human cells respond to changes in their environment and G-protein-coupled receptors, discovered and studied by this year’s Nobel Laureates, are a family of proteins, found across cell membranes, that detect key molecules such as hormones and activate signals in cells and over longer distances in the body. Lefkowitz identified and extracted the receptors from cells by using radioactive materials starting in 1968 to trace these important proteins. Kobilka and his co-workers then successfully isolated a gene that produces one of these receptors, and after analysis, noted that it resembled light receptors in the eye and belonged to a large family of similar receptor proteins. Many physiological processes depend on these receptors and with these tremendous breakthroughs, the pharmaceutical drug industry can now tailor drugs to target specific cell functions that are efficient and generate little or no side effects. Access AIP Journal and Proceedings Articles Related to G-Protein-Coupled Receptors All AIP journal content is free through the month of October. AIP journal content pertaining to the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is free until December 31, 2012. Pathway Analysis and Modeling of the Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells into Hepatocyte-like Cells Topological change and impedance spectrum of rat olfactory receptor I7: A comparative analysis with bovine rhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin Computer Molecular Dynamics Studies on Protein Structures (Visual Pigment Rhodopsin and Cyclin-Dependent Kinases) Thermal Fluctuations Of A GPCR: A Two Force Constant Model Modelization of Thermal Fluctuations in G Protein-Coupled Receptors We also are pleased to provide the link to the below related article from AIP Member Society AVS: Imaging of G protein-coupled receptors in solid-supported planar lipid membranes From Inside Science News Service 2 Americans Share Nobel Prize for Biochemical Discoveries Biographies and Personal Pages Robert J. Lefkowitz Brian K. Kobilka Pictures, Graphics, and Multimedia Animation of G-protein-coupled receptor
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