Martin Rodbell

Martin Rodbell (December 1, 1925[1] – December 7,

1998) was an American biochemist and molecular Martin Rodbell
endocrinologist who is best known for his discovery of
G-proteins. He shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine with Alfred G. Gilman for
"their discovery of G-proteins and the role of these
proteins in signal transduction in cells."

Biography
Rodbell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of
Shirley (née Abrams) and Milton Rodbell, a grocer.[2] Rodbell in 1994
His family was Jewish.[3] After graduating from the Born December 1, 1925
Baltimore City College high school, he entered Johns Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Hopkins University in 1943, with interests in biology
Died December 7, 1998 (aged 73)
and French existential literature. In 1944, his studies
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
were interrupted by his military service as a U.S. Navy
Nationality American
radio operator during World War II. He returned to
Hopkins in 1946 and received his B.S. in biology in Alma mater Johns Hopkins University
1949. In 1950, he married Barbara Charlotte University of Washington
Ledermann, a former friend of Margot Frank, diarist Known for G-proteins
Anne Frank's older sister. Martin and Barbara had four signal transduction
children. Rodbell received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at Spouse Barbara Charlotte Ledermann
the University of Washington in 1954. He did post- ​
​(m. 1950)​
doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Children 4
Champaign from 1954 to 1956. In 1956, Rodbell
Relatives Sanne Ledermann (sister-in-law)
accepted a position as a research biochemist at the
National Heart Institute, part of the National Institutes Awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or
of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1985, Rodbell Medicine (1994)
became Scientific Director of the NIH's National Gairdner Foundation International
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Award (1984)
Triangle Park, North Carolina where he worked until Richard Lounsbery Award (1987)
his retirement in 1994. He was also adjunct professor Scientific career
of Cell Biology at Duke University (from 1991 to Fields Biochemist
1998)[4] and adjunct professor of pharmacology at the
Institutions National Institute of Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[5][6] He
Duke University
died in Chapel Hill of multiple organ failure after an
University of North Carolina at
extended illness.
Chapel Hill

Research
Reflecting the increasingly common analogies between computer science and biology in the 1960s,
Rodbell believed that the fundamental information processing systems of both computers and biological
organisms were similar. He asserted that individual cells were analogous to cybernetic systems made up
of three distinct molecular components: discriminators, transducers, and amplifiers (otherwise known as
effectors). The discriminator, or cell receptor, receives information from outside the cell; a cell transducer
processes this information across the cell membrane; and the amplifier intensifies these signals to initiate
reactions within the cell or to transmit information to other cells.

In December 1969 and early January 1970, Rodbell was working with a laboratory team that studied the
effect of the hormone glucagon on a rat liver membrane receptor—the cellular discriminator that receives
outside signals. Rodbell discovered that ATP (adenosine triphosphate) could reverse the binding action of
glucagon to the cell receptor and thus dissociate the glucagon from the cell altogether. He then noted that
traces of GTP (guanosine triphosphate) could reverse the binding process almost one thousand times
faster than ATP. Rodbell deduced that GTP was probably the active biological factor in dissociating
glucagon from the cell's receptor, and that GTP had been present as an impurity in his earlier experiments
with ATP. This GTP, he found, stimulated the activity in the guanine nucleotide protein (later called the
G-protein), which, in turn, produced profound metabolic effects in the cell. This activation of the G-
protein, Rodbell postulated, was the "second messenger" process that Earl W. Sutherland had theorized.
In the language of signal transduction, the G-protein, activated by GTP, was the principal component of
the transducer, which was the crucial link between the discriminator and the amplifier. Later, Rodbell
postulated, and then provided evidence for, additional G-proteins at the cell receptor that could inhibit
and activate transduction, often at the same time. In other words, cellular receptors were sophisticated
enough to have several different processes going on simultaneously.

Awards and honors

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1994)
Gairdner Foundation International Award (1984)
Richard Lounsbery Award (1987)
Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[7] (1995)

See also

Biography portal

List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References
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External links
Martin Rodbell (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/451) on Nobelprize.org
Martin Rodbell Papers (1925-1999) (http://oculus.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=nlmf
indaid;id=navbarbrowselink;cginame=findaid-idx;cc=nlmfindaid;view=reslist;subview=standa
rd;didno=rodbell) - National Library of Medicine finding aid
The Martin Rodbell Papers (https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/GG/) - Profiles in Science, National
Library of Medicine

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