Blobel, Gunter (1936-2018), was a German-born biologist who conducted important research on the movement of proteins within the cells of living organisms. His research helped explain the molecular basis of certain diseases, including cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and some cancers. The work could lead to new treatments for these diseases. For this research, Blobel was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.
Proteins are used by a cell to grow, repair itself, and perform the thousands of chemical operations that are required during the cell’s lifetime. Within a cell, proteins are manufactured on tiny structures called ribosomes. The proteins are then transported to different cell structures called organelles. Each organelle performs a different function within the cell using different proteins.
Blobel’s research described how newly manufactured proteins are transported to the correct organelle within a cell. He found that each new protein carries a molecular “tag” that indicates which organelle it should go to. Scientists know that many hereditary diseases are caused by errors in the movement of certain proteins within the cells of the body. Blobel’s research may lead to an understanding of how the errors occur and how they can be corrected.
Blobel was born on May 21, 1936, in Waltersdorf, Germany (now part of Poland). He studied medicine at the University of Tubingen and received his M.D. degree in 1960. He left Germany to train in oncology (the study of tumors) at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1967. That same year he began a fellowship studying cell biology at Rockefeller University in New York CIty. He became a professor there in 1976. He died on Feb. 18, 2018.
