Two Americans Share Nobel Prize In Chemistry

Two Americans have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Koblika were awarded the prize for their work on protein receptors that tell cells what's going on around the human body. Their research has allowed drug makers to develop medication with fewer side effects. The pair with share the $1.2 million award.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Today, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to two Americans. They won for their work on sensors or receptors that sit on the surface of cells. The receptors make cells respond to chemical signals that your body releases when you react to the outside world. Maybe you were frightened by a sudden noise or you just smelled a tantalizing cup of coffee. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce explains how these receptors work and why they're so important to medicine.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: Shortly after they called the winners to tell them the news, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences held a press conference this morning. They had one of the winners on the phone to talk to reporters. Robert Lefkowitz said when the fateful call came, he didn't even hear the phone ring because he was sound asleep and wearing earplugs.

ROBERT LEFKOWITZ: And so my wife gave me an elbow - phone for you. And there it was, a total shock and surprise.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: He said he had been planning an ordinary day at the office.

LEFKOWITZ: I was going to get a haircut but...

(LAUGHTER)

LEFKOWITZ: ...which, if you could see me, you would see is quite a necessity. But I'm afraid that it'll probably have to be postponed.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Reached by phone later on, he said he had canceled his haircut. His wife told him: Don't worry. Slightly disheveled is a good luck for Nobel Prize winner. His day had been a nonstop frenzy of phone calls, not just reporters but friends and also his five adult children who were duly impressed.

LEFKOWITZ: I was actually taken aback by how excited they were. I mean, not that I wouldn't think they'd be excited that Dad won the Nobel Prize, but they just seemed like over the moon.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Lefkowitz is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Duke University Medical Center. He started his research back in the early 1970s hunting for receptors on the surface of cells that are sensitive to the flight or fight hormone, adrenaline.

LEFKOWITZ: There was tremendous skepticism as to whether they existed at all. And early in my career, that was the biggest obstacle or hurdle I faced. There was a lot of pushback that, you know, you can't do this. These receptors aren't really things you can study. They're just kind of some vague something.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Work in his lab showed how wrong that view was. His group found the gene for a receptor and revealed that it was part of a large family of receptors called G protein-coupled receptors. Lots of common medications act on these receptors, everything from anti-histamines to beta blockers. So understanding how the receptors work at the molecular level could help scientists design better drugs.

LEFKOWITZ: It is amazing to me to watch over the 40 or so years of my career, how this field has grown and grown and exploded. And it's now a huge, huge field. I mean, I have to be honest. I can't keep up with all the different ramifications anymore.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Lefkowitz is sharing the Nobel Prize with a close colleague who once worked in his lab. Brian Kobilka is now at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kobilka spent years trying to get a detailed picture of one of these receptors in action to show exactly how it passes a signal from the outside of the cell to a protein inside the cell. This seemed so impossible that at times his lab struggled to get funding. But just last year, he announced that they had done it. Chuck Sanders is a biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

CHUCK SANDERS: I was in China about a year and a half ago where he presented his work for the very first time at a meeting. And there was just a hush of awe in the audience when he flashed the structure up on the screen. It was a really, really major accomplishment.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Sanders says this kind of scientific feat isn't luck.

SANDERS: He was only able to do that because he had basically devoted his life to studying these receptors. And it was his knowledge of these receptors that led to the technical breakthroughs that led to that structure.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Reached by cell phone a few hours after he'd been told he won the Nobel, Kobilka sounded kind of stunned.

BRIAN KOBILKA: I'm still a little - in a little bit in disbelief. But I'm pretty sure this isn't dream a anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

KOBILKA: I guess I have to - I guess it's real.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says when the call from Sweden woke him up, he knew it couldn't be some kind of practical joke. There were just too many people on the line, all congratulating him with very convincing Swedish accents. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162668408/two-americans-share-nobel-prize-in-chemistry?ft=1&f=1007

double eagle bubba masters winner instagram facebook mike wallace mike wallace chicago cubs