2003 Chemistry Nobel Prize Winners
William Lord, Serena Kana, Teja Kommera
Peter Agre
- Received a "D" in his Chemistry class in high school
- Is also a cross country skier
- Was an Eagle Scout
Fun Facts:
- Studied Biomedical Sciences and Engineering
- Was a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
- Attended both Augsburg College and the Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore
- Has not died yet
- Born in Northfield, Minnesota
- Born January 30, 1949
Robert MacKinnon
- Born on February 19, 1956
- Born in Burlington, Massachusetts
- Has not died yet
- Attended both Brandeis University and University of Massachusetts Boston
- Was the head of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics
- Studied Neurobiology and Biophysics
Fun Facts
- Wrote a book teaching people how to speak Gaelic
What did they do?
- Agre discovered Aquaporin
- Agre's First experiment: put unfamiliar protein in distilled water and it exploded like popcorn ---> realized it associate with water
- Agre discovered how cells function with water channels
- He also discovered how to isolate the membrane
- Discoveries led to studies of water channels in biochemical and genetics areas
- MacKinnon further discovered structural studies of ion channels
- He discovered how to "see" ions flowing through channels
Result of work
- These discoveries provided new insights to mechanisms in living organisms
- Could potentially solve medical problems like fluid retention in heart disease
- Aquaporin plays a key role in a type of diabetes that creases urine reduction
- Has led to more in-depth studies in particular areas
- Ion channels can help us with our nervous and muscular system
Why They Won
- introduced the ways in which proteins move throughout cells
- contributed to the cures of many diseases throughout the body
- led to major developments in the understanding of the human body
- now we know how and why ions travel through the cell
- their research contributed to better and more effective medicines
Future Impact
- Currently this research is being used for developing more effective medicines
- more innovations will expand upon these discoveries to make faster working medicines
- medicines will be able to better take advantage of transportation throughout the human body
- greater understanding of how things are transported throughout a cell
Ion Channel
channel for ion transport
Effective Medicines
Aquaporin
channel for water transport