Remembering Gunter Blobel

Dr. Gunter Blobel was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on cellular proteins and how they travel to the specific area of the cell where they are needed. His “signal hypothesis” was instrumental in the mechanisms of protein transport within the cell and helped develop the genetic engineering revolution, which has seen the production of recombinant proteins such as insulin and human growth hormone. Dr. Blobel donated the money form his Nobel Prize, nearly $1 million, to the rebuilding of Dresden, Germany, which was devastated when he was a youth during World War II.