Keystone Symposia Congratulates the 2012 Nobel Prize Winners
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Keystone Symposia extends our congratulations to the recipients of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University and Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Research, and Sir John B. Gurdon of the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge, whose awards were announced Monday, October 8, 2012.
A Japanese physician and researcher, Dr. Yamanaka has been a frequent participant in Keystone Symposia conferences. Most recently, he co-organized the February 2010 conference on “Stem Cell Differentiation and Dedifferentiation” in Keystone, Colorado; delivered the keynote address at the March 2012 conference on “Cardiovascular Development and Regeneration” in Taos, New Mexico; and will co-organize Keystone Symposia’s 2014 conference on “Stem Cells and Reprogramming.”
Sir John Gurdon, a British developmental biologist, has been participating in Keystone Symposia conferences since 1975. He previously won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research award in 2009.
The two scientists share the Nobel Prize for their ground-breaking discoveries that mature, adult cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent. This work holds enormous scientific promise and has greatly expanded the field of stem cell research since it provides an alternative to using embryonic stem cells.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
We also congratulate the two winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, American biochemists Brian K. Kobilka of Stanford University School of Medicine and Robert J. Lefkowitz of HHMI/Duke University Medical Center. Announced on Wednesday, October 10, 2012, these recipients won for their pioneering work in G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), which have proved to be one of the most effective drug targets, used in approximately half of all medications.
Dr. Kobilka has been a long-standing participant in Keystone Symposia meetings. He presented earlier in 2012 at our joint structural biology meetings and will be co-organizing our 2014 conference on “G Protein-Coupled Receptors: Structural Dynamics and Functional Implications,” which will be held jointly with a meeting on “Frontiers of Structural Biology.” Likewise, Dr. Lefkowitz has participated in a wide range of cardiovascular and receptor meetings dating back to 1978.
We look forward to all four scientists’ participation in our upcoming conferences.