41: Randy Schekman: Nobel Prize Winner And International Leader in Human Cell Molecular Biology

Dr. Randy Schekman is a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2013, he shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his role in revealing the machinery that regulates the transport and secretion of proteins in human cells. A former editor-in-chief of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he currently serves as editor-in-chief of the open-access journal eLife, which publishes the most important advances in the life and biomedical sciences. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and his prestigious honors include receiving the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. Dr. Schekman obtained his doctorate from Stanford University where he worked with Dr. Arthur Kornberg, another Nobel laureate. Along with his tremendous achievements in the realm of science, Dr. Schekman is a strong advocate of the importance of public research universities and public education. As a result, he donated his Nobel Prize money to the Berkeley campus in order to create an endowed chair in the life sciences. In this interview, Dr. Schekman discusses his amazing story of getting his first grant "trashed" but then finding his way to researching baker's yeast and moving into genetics and protein exporting mechanisms. Other topics include translational medicine and the NIH, how his research led to insulin production and hepatitis surface antigen, and George Palade, another Nobel laureate.