Randy Schekman is interested in membrane assembly, vesicular transport, and membrane fusion among organelles of the secretory pathway. Schekman and his team apply basic principles they developed from studies of a simple eukaryote, yeast, to investigate the mechanisms of intracellular vesicular transport and biogenesis of extracellular vesicles (exosomes) in cultured human cells. Their current work is devoted to understanding how proteins and RNA are sorted into extracellular vesicles and how these molecules may be delivered to target cells in relation to normal and pathological functions.
Six HHMI scientists have been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute announced that HHMI investigators Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof, and Yale’s James E. Rothman are the recipients of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells. Distinguished cell biologist is named first editor of a new journal that HHMI, the Max Planck Society, and the Wellcome Trust will launch next year.