2 Americans,German jointly win Nobel prize in medicine

Dr Schekman,a professor of molecular and cell biology at University of California at Berkeley,identified the genes that regulate cells transportation system,originally studying yeast cells with faulty systems,where vesicles piled up in places they were not supposed to be.

Dr Rothman,a Yale professor who is currently chairman of the department of cell biology there,discovered a protein complex that allows vesicles to dock and fuse with the membranes they are targeting.

Dr Südhof,originally from Germany,is a professor of molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford. His work on how nerve cells communicate with one another in the brain built on the machinery discovered by Drs Schekman and Rothman by pinpointing how vesicles know exactly when to release their molecular contents.

Together,the work of the three newest Laureates has unlocked a fundamental process in cell physiology,as the Nobel committee put it,one that enhances scientists understanding and research of diseases like diabetes in which the cell transportation system goes awry.

JENNIFER A KINGSON