US duo Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka win Nobel chemistry prize
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Pictures of US scientists Robert Lefkowitz, (left), and Brian Kobilka who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are projected on a screen on Oct 10, 2012, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm. US duo Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for their ground-breaking work on how receptors of the body's cells respond to their environment, the jury said. -- PHOTO: AFP
STOCKHOLM (AP) - Americans Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka won the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for studies of proteins that let body cells respond to signals from the outside.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the two researchers had made groundbreaking discoveries on an important family of receptors, known as G-protein-coupled receptors.
About half of all medications act on these receptors, so learning about them will help scientists to come up with better drugs.
The Nobel week started on Monday with the medicine prize going to stem cell pioneers John Gurdon of Britain and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka. Frenchman Serge Haroche and American David Wineland won the physics prize on Tuesday for work on quantum particles.
