Edwin G. Krebs
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Edwin G. Krebs
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1992
Born: 6 June 1918, Lansing, IA, USA
Died: 21 December 2009, Seattle, WA, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Prize motivation: “for their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
The element phosphorus and phosphate groups, consisting of phosphorous and oxygen atoms, play an important role in several vital biochemical processes. In the mid-1950s Edwin Krebs and Edmond Fischer were able to describe how processes in which proteins emit and absorb phosphate groups can take place in both directions. They demonstrated how the process is governed by special enzymes—proteins that speed up the transformation of other proteins without being incorporated in the final products of the process. These processes are important in the regulation of metabolism in the body and other functions.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
