Brian Kobilka, Noble Prize winner (shown on the right)
Having a father who works at Stanford University, I come across a lot of interesting biology news. An example of this is the recent winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Brian Kobilka, at the Stanford School of Medicine. What did Brian Kobilka do that won him a Nobel Prize? He got the award for his work on the G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), the messengers and guards of cells. GPCRs and other receptors have the unique ability to transmit signals from the outside of the cell to the inside of the cell. Think of them like guardians of a castle. Depending on who comes to the entrance of the castle, what the guardians say to the people inside will be different. The signal they tell the people will go throughout the population of the castle and eventually reach the king, similar to an amplifier. Why send signals if molecules can just pass through the cell membrane? Unfortunately, not all molecules can simply pass through the cell membrane, it all depends on the size, charge, and polarity of the molecule. Instead, by sending signals from outside the cell to inside the cell, molecules that can't pass through the membrane can still accomplish what they need to. Before Brian Kobilka's discoveries, scientists had many theories on how protein receptors worked, but no one had actually photographed it or truly understood it. At Kobilka's lab, he discovered that there were many steps to signal transduction (passing signals from molecules outside a cell to inside a cell). The first step is that the molecule outside the cell binds with the protein receptor, causing the protein to change shape (conformational change). This change in the receptor protein causes a cytoplasmic signal, resulting in a huge chain reaction within in the cell, causing whatever the signal transmitted to occur. Of course, it isn't as simple as that. It took Brian a decade to understand and photograph the process. How did this win a Noble Prize? Why does understanding signal transduction matter? Over 30% of drugs bind to GPCR and other protein receptors! By understanding what happens to the drug after it bonds with the protein receptor, scientists can create more effective drugs. Even if you are a CAL fan, what Brian Kobilka has done here at Stanford is going to impact how drugs are made in the future.
If you are interested in learning more about Brian Kobilka, the reason why he won the Nobel Prize, or signal transduction, I suggest visiting the following links.
Brain Kobilka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPPjgb68GmU
Reason for Winning: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/2012/10/10/g-protein-coupled-receptors-gpcrs-win-2012-nobel-prize-in-chemistry/
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/10/americans-robert-lefkowitz-and-brian-kobilka-win-nobel-chemistry-prize/
Signal Transduction Animation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtVb7r8aHco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3AUhMCE9n0
