Nobel Prize 2016 Physiology...

Figure 1: Our cells have different specialized compartments. Lysosomes constitute one such compartment and contain enzymes for digestion of cellular contents. A new type of vesicle called autophagosome was observed within the cell. As the autophagosome forms, it engulfs cellular contents, such as damaged proteins and organelles. Finally, it fuses with the lysosome, where the contents are degraded into smaller constituents. This process provides the cell with nutrients and building blocks for renewal.

Topics: Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize, Physiology

I doubled up today due to yesterday's Netflix post. I'll follow the schedule as rolled out on NobelPrize.org:

October 3: Physiology or Medicine

October 4: Physics

October 5: Chemistry

October 7: Peace

October 10: Economic Sciences

Press Release

2016-10-03

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award

the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

to

Yoshinori Ohsumi

for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy

Summary

This year's Nobel Laureate discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlying autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.

The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto-, meaning "self", and phagein, meaning "to eat". Thus,autophagy denotes "self eating". This concept emerged during the 1960's, when researchers first observed that the cell could destroy its own contents by enclosing it in membranes, forming sack-like vesicles that were transported to a recycling compartment, called the lysosome, for degradation. Difficulties in studying the phenomenon meant that little was known until, in a series of brilliant experiments in the early 1990's, Yoshinori Ohsumi used baker's yeast to identify genes essential for autophagy. He then went on to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for autophagy in yeast and showed that similar sophisticated machinery is used in our cells.

"The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Press Release". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 3 Oct 2016. 

< http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2016/press.html >