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Two Nobels

Photo: Steve Fisch

Two researchers at the School of Medicine have won 2013 Nobel Prizes. Thomas Südhof, professor of molecular and cellular physiology won the Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in neuroscience. He shares the award with James Rothman of Yale and Randy Schekman, PhD '75, of UC-Berkeley.

The laureates were recognized for their discoveries "of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells." Südhof, 57, also recently received a Lasker Basic Medical Research Award presented by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.

Photo: Steve Fisch

Michael Levitt, professor of structural biology, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

He shares the prize with Martin Karplus of the University of Strasbourg in France and Harvard University, and Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California, "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems."

Levitt's work focuses on theoretical, computer-aided analysis of protein, DNA and RNA molecules responsible for life at its most fundamental level. Delineating the precise molecular structures of biological molecules is a necessary first step in understanding how they work and in designing drugs to alter their function.