FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 07, 2013

American Chemical Society president comments on award of 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2013 — Marinda Li Wu, Ph.D., president of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, congratulates today’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to James E. Rothman, Ph.D., of Yale University; Randy W. Schekman, Ph.D., of the University of California at Berkeley and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Thomas C. Südhof, M.D., of Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.”

“As president of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, I am delighted to congratulate the new laureates on behalf of our more than 163,000 members,” said Wu. “Rothman is among those members. Vesicles are small packages that cells use to move molecules from one place to another. These packages are important for understanding human health and diseases such as diabetes, and immune system and neurological disorders.”

Rothman is a professor of chemistry and a 14-year member of ACS. His work has been published in the ACS journal Biochemistry, one of the society’s more than 40 peer-reviewed journals. Südhof’s work also appears in the ACS journal Biochemistry. In addition, his research has been mentioned in several articles in Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine. These articles are available from the contacts above.

Wu is 2013 president of the American Chemical Society. The holder of seven U.S. patents, she has worked in Dow Chemical’s Central Research Laboratory and is founder of Science is Fun! Wu has considerable prior experience with ACS, including service as a councilor and as a member of the board and numerous ACS committees. She has been a member of the society since 1971 and was head of the California Section in 2001. Wu has a B.S. cum laude with Distinction in Chemistry from The Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

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The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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Nobel Prize in Chemistry Medal