Günter Blobel (German pronunciation:[ˈɡʏntɐˈbloːbl̩]ⓘ; May 21, 1936 – February 18, 2018) was aSilesianGerman and Americanbiologist and 1999Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell.
Günter Blobel was born inWaltersdorf in thePrussianProvince of Lower Silesia, then located in eastern Germany. In January 1945 his family fled from native Silesia toDresden to escape from the advancingRed Army. During thebombing of Dresden, Blobel, then 8, stayed with his family at a relative's farm to the west of the city. After the war, Blobel grew up and attendedgymnasium in theSaxon town ofFreiberg. He studied medicine and graduated from theUniversity of Tübingen in 1960. After two years service in a medical internship, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, following an older brother, enrolling in theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison and, joining the lab ofVan R. Potter for his graduate work. Blobel matriculated in 1967 with a Ph.D. He then moved to Rockefeller University as a postdoctoral fellow with George Palade, and was soon appointed as a professor.[1]
Blobel died of cancer inManhattan at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center on February 18, 2018 at the age of 81.[3][4] By the time of his death, Blobel was described as having "ushered cell biology into the molecular age" through his work on the fractionation and reconstitution of functional protein complexes and sub-cellular componentsin vitro.[1][5]
Blobel became well known for his direct and active support for the rebuilding ofDresden inGermany, becoming, in 1994, the founder and president of the nonprofit "Friends of Dresden, Inc." He donated all of the Nobel award money to the restoration of Dresden, in particular for the rebuilding of theFrauenkirche (completed in 2005) and the building of a newsynagogue. In Leipzig he pursued a rebuilding of thePaulinerkirche, the university church of theUniversity of Leipzig, which had been blown up by the communist regime of East Germany in 1968, arguing "this is a shrine of German cultural history, connected to the most important names in German cultural history."[6] Gunter was also a founding member of the board of directors of Research Foundation to Cure AIDS, a U.S. not-for-profit research organization.
Blobel lost his older sister to aerial bombing of a train she was on in 1945, shortly after the bombing of Dresden, while an older brother survived the war and became a veterinarian in the United States.[1] Blobel worked at theRockefeller University inNew York City from 1968. He lived inManhattan'sUpper East Side with his wife, Laura Maioglio (owner ofBarbetta).[1][7] He was on the board of directors forNestlé and the Board of Scientific Governors atThe Scripps Research Institute. Furthermore, he was Co-Founder and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for Chromocell Corporation.[8] He sat on the Selection Committee for Life Science and Medicine which chooses winners of theShaw Prize. Blobel had a passion for opera and architecture, in addition to his passion for experimental science.[1]
^"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1999" (Press release). The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet. 11 October 1999.The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1999 to Günter Blobel for the discovery that "proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell"
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