In
a series of pioneering experiments conducted here at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH), Martin Rodbell and his colleagues discovered a mechanism that
transformed our understanding of how cells respond to signals, by by studying
hormones -- substances which have specific effects on cells; activity. This
mechanism explains not only how hormones function, but also how light and odors
are perceived, how signals travel between neurons in the brain, and how some
diseases affect the body. When Martin Rodbell began to investigate the roots
of hormone action, he could not have predicted the broad impact his findings
would have.
"Nature doesn't always do things the way we expect it to, and we need to have humility about that." --Martin Rodbell
- The Nobel Prize and Hormones: A Knowledge Revolution
- The First Step: Isolating Single Cells
- Robdell's Inspiration: Sutherland's Second Messenger
- A New Model for Message Transmission: Discovering the Role of GTP
- A Far-ranging Impact: Cholera, Inherited Night Blindness, McCune Albrights Syndrome
- The 1994 Nobel Prize
- Martin Rodbell, 1925-1998
- Acknowledgement