Nobel Prize
The NIH Intramural Research Program has nurtured many Nobel Prize winners who either did the entirety of their award-winning research here (*) or trained or worked extensively in one of our laboratories:
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Harvey J. Alter* (2020), with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice. For the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.
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Tasuku Honjo (2018), with James P. Allison. For their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.
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Eric Betzig (2014), with Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner. For their development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.
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Michael Levitt (2013), with Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel. For their development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.
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Robert Lefkowitz (2012), with Brian Kobilka. For their studies of G-protein-coupled receptors.
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Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (2008), with Luc Montagnier. For their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
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Richard Axel (2004), with Linda B. Buck. For their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system.
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Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric R. Kandel (2000). For their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system.
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Ferid Murad and Louis J. Ignarro (1998), with Robert F. Furchgott. For their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
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Stanley Prusiner (1997). For his discovery of prions—a new biological principle of infection.
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Alfred Gilman and Martin Rodbell* (1994). For their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these proteins in signal transduction in cells.
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J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus (1989). For their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes.
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Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein (1985). For their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.
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Baruj Benacerraf (1980), with Jean Dausset and George D. Snell. For their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions.
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Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek* (1976). For their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases.
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Christian B. Anfinsen* (1972). For his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation.
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Julius Axelrod* (1970), with Sir Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler. For their discoveries concerning the humoral transmitters in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation.
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Marshall W. Nirenberg* (1968), with Robert W. Holley and Har Gobind Khorana. For their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis. Click to view a video interview with Dr. Nirenberg.
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Arthur Kornberg (1959), with Severo Ochoa. For their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid.
* The asterisk indicates that these Nobel Laureates did the entirety of their award-winning research at the NIH as federal scientists. There are six such laureates: Marshall Nirenberg, Julius Axelrod, Christian Anfinsen, D. Carleton Gajdsek, Martin Rodbell, and Harvey Alter.