NC Man Gets Nobel Prize

A North Carolina doctor has won a Nobel Prize.  Two American physicians who help solve the mystery of how cells in the body are able to sense and respond to chemical messages, which is a discovery that provided for an about 40% of the prescription drugs available today, have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.  Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz of Duke University Medical Center and Dr. Brian K. Kobilka of Stanford University School of Medicine were honored Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for their studies of signaling molecules known as G-protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs.  NC Gov. Bev Perdue said, “I want to offer my congratulations to Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, who shares the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This is truly a great honor for Dr. Lefkowitz and will be a source of enduring pride for him, Duke University and the State of North Carolina. His decades of dedicated research on cell receptors have charted new paths for scientific discovery. It’s that kind of research that helped make North Carolina a leader in scientific innovation and biotechnology.”  The Governor concluded by saying, “Dr. Lefkowitz is a rock star scientist in my book.”