Robert J. Lefkowitz at Howard Hughes Medical Center at Duke University, and Brian K. Kobilka from Stanford University School of Medicine have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Lefkowitz and Kobilka worked on a group of biochemicals called G-protein-coupled receptors.

These receptors sit in the cell-membrane and allow small molecules outside the cell to manipulate the response of the cell. G-proteins play a role in vision, smell, mood regulation, and the immune system. They also help control cell density—that is, the G-proteins stop cells from packing themselves in too tightly. This very wide role makes them a very important role biology, so understanding them is worthy of recognition.

As I understand it, the protein sits in the cell-membrane. A very small part of the protein is exposed to the surrounding environment, while the rest hangs inside the cell. When a small molecule docks to outside, it changes the charge balance, causing the part of the protein inside the cell to change its structure. This change in structure allows different proteins inside the cell to dock and begin a cascade of reaction.

The cool thing about this is that the internal changes depend on what molecule has docked on the outside, allowing the same protein to communicate many different messages.

Lefkowitz and Kobilka worked together to track down this path of activity and discovered the core similarity at the heart of cell signaling.