University of Washington alumnus Martin Rodbell has won the 1994 Nobel Prize in medicine, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, announced Oct. 10.
Rodbell, who received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the UW in 1954, shared the award with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Professor Alfred Gilman. The men were honored for their research on G proteins, a key component of the communication system that regulates cellular activity.
“As I remember [Rodbell], he was a dedicated student who took his work very seriously,” says Biochemistry Professor Emeritus Hans Neurath, who chaired the department from 1950 to 1975. “I’m not surprised that he was awarded the Nobel Prize because the work that he and Gilman did is really fundamental to our understanding of how cells communicate.”
According to news reports, Rodbell gave credit to the late UW Medicine Professor Robert Williams for inspiring him to pursue different research methods. Williams was head of medicine during Rodbell’s studies at the UW.
At an Oct. 10 news conference, Rodbell was outspoken about the need for basic scientific research—the kind that may eventually lead to vital, far-reaching discoveries. “The world ‘ain’t’ the same,” he said. “Now everything is targeted, bottom line, how to make a buck. The attention of the Congress and the executive branch always has been toward the end goal. They are not as willing to take a chance now on people like me in exploring the unknown.”
Rodbell has worked at the National Institutes of Health since 1956. Currently a scientist emeritus at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Chapel Hill, N.C., he did his Nobel Prize-winning work at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases.
G proteins, which are bound to the cell’s surface membrane, serve as intermediaries between incoming signals—such as hormones and drugs—and the cellular proteins that respond to the signals. G proteins play many roles in normal cellular functions, including cell growth and neurotransmission. Aberrations in G proteins and their functions can lead to diseases, from cancer to cholera.
Rodbell’s work has earned him election to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A native of Baltimore, Rodbell received his B.A. in biology from Johns Hopkins University in 1949.
With this award, the University of Washington has three alumni and four professors who are Nobel laureates. Other UW alumni winners include the late George J. Stigler, ’31, who won the 1982 prize in economics, and George Hitchings, ’27, who shared the 1988 prize in medicine.
UW faculty laureates include Pharmacology and Biochemistry Professor Emeritus Edwin G. Krebs and Biochemistry Professor Emeritus Edmond Fischer, who shared the 1992 prize in medicine. E. Donnall Thomas, director emeritus of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Division of Clinical Research and UW professor emeritus of medicine, won the 1990 medicine prize. In 1989 Physics Professor Hans Dehmelt shared the prize in physics.