AMSTERDAM, October 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Nobel tribute website provides free access to laureate
research on cellular pluripotency, quantum
optics, transmembrane
receptors, and market design
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and
medical information products and services, today announced the
launch of a Nobel Prize tribute website in honor of eight 2012
Nobel Laureates, providing free access to their research published
by Elsevier. The 2012 Laureates will be honored at the Nobel Prize
Ceremony on December 10 in
Stockholm.
"I'd like to congratulate all winning 2012 Nobel Laureates on
their unique accomplishments," says Ron
Mobed, CEO, Elsevier. "Many of the Nobel Laureates over the
years have been actively involved with Elsevier, and we are very
gratified that we have had the opportunity to work in some way with
those great scholars in the publication and dissemination of their
ground-breaking research."
Elsevier salutes these scholars, and is proud to recognize their
revolutionary research and contributions to society:
Medicine: The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine was awarded jointly to Sir John B.
Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
"for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become
pluripotent." Gurdon and Yamanaka's innovative research shed light
on the ability of mature, specialized cells to be reprogrammed to
become immature stem cells capable of developing into all tissues
of the body. Gurdon published his original research in
Developmental Biology in 1962, and some forty years later,
Yamanaka's groundbreaking 2006 paper published in Cell
changed the landscape of the stem cell field. Taken together, these
discoveries opened a broad array of new avenues for stem cell
research and regenerative medicine.
Sir John B. Gurdon has published
in a number of Elsevier journals, including
Cell,Current Biology and Mechanisms of
Development. Shinya Yamanaka is
on the editorial boards of Cell and Cell Stem Cell
and has published important papers in both journals. He has also
published in Current Biology,Genomics and
Neuroscience Letters, and contributed to the Handbook of
Stem Cells.
Physics: Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland were the joint recipients of
this year's Prize in Physics for "ground-breaking experimental
methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual
quantum systems." Using techniques they developed independently of
one another, both scientists were able to measure and observe ions
and photons in their quantum state without disturbing or destroying
them. Their advanced and innovative techniques hold enormous
implications for the field of quantum physics - and brings the
development of quantum computers and ionic clocks closer to
reality. Haroche has published extensively in Optics
Communications and the Journal of Luminescence.
David J. Wineland has published,
amongst others, in Physics LettersA.
Chemistry: The Chemistry Prize this year was
awarded jointly to Robert J.
Lefkowitz and Brian K.
Kobilka "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors."
Lefkowitz and Kobikla worked together to answer a question that
stumped scientists for years: how do cells receive and respond to
hormones? Working with a team of researchers, Lefkowitz was able to
identify several receptors that exist on cells' walls. When Kobilka
joined the research team some years later, the two professors
sought to isolate and identify a specific adrenaline receptor - and
found that there exists a whole family of receptors that look alike
and function in the same manner. These receptors are called
G-protein-coupled receptors, and they play a crucial role in our
bodies' response to light, flavor, odor, adrenaline, histamine,
dopamine and serotonin. About half of all medications achieve their
effect through G-protein-coupled receptors. Lefkowitz is an
advisory board member for Life Sciences and has published in
Biochemical and Biophysical Research
Communications,Trends Pharmacological
Sciences,the Journal of Molecular and Cellular
Cardiology, and Cell. Brian
Kobilka is an editorial board member of Trends in
Pharmacological Sciences, and has published in numerous
Elsevier journals, such as Current Opinion in Structural
Biology and Biochemical Pharmacology.
Economics: This year's Sveriges Riksbank Prize in
Economic Sciences was awarded jointly to Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd
S. Shapley. The two American professors took on the complex
economic problem of how to match different agents as best as
possible. This problem has many real-world applications, for
instance helping hospitals match organ donors with transplant
patients. Shapley attacked this problem by using cooperative game
theory to create an algorithm that ensures that a particular
matching is stable. Roth worked independently of Shapley but used
his same basic methods - and was able to apply the algorithm to
help institutions best match new doctors with hospitals, students
with universities, and organ donors with patients. Shapley has
served on the editorial board for Games and Economic
Behavior and as the advisory editor for the Journal of
Mathematical Economics. Both laureates have published
extensively in the Journal of Economic Theory and Games
and Economic Behavior.
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About Elsevier
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Media contact
Harald Boersma
Senior Manager, Corporate Relations
+31-20-485-27-36
h.boersma@elsevier.com
SOURCE Elsevier