Günter Blobel, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Blobel is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at The Rockefeller University in New York City. In 1999, Dr. Blobel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in protein research.

Dr. Blobel joined The Rockefeller University in 1967 as a postdoctoral fellow in the cell biology laboratory of Professor Emeritus Philip Siekevitz, Ph.D. and Nobel Laureate George Palade, M.D. Dr. Blobel was appointed an assistant professor in 1969, associate professor in 1973, professor in 1976 and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor in 1992. He received a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) appointment in 1986 when HHMI established a unit at The Rockefeller University.

In addition to the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Dr. Blobel was the recipient of a 1993 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology in 1997, the King Faisal Award in 1996, the Ciba Drew Award in Biomedical Research in 1995, the National Academy of Sciences' 1978 U.S. Steel Foundation Award in Molecular Biology and a 1982 Gairdner Foundation International Award. He became a member of the Leopoldina and was elected to membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1983, the year he received the Academy's Richard Lounsbery Award for work in “uncovering the molecular interactions that control the traffic of newly synthesized proteins in eukaryotic cells; for his incisive experiments; and for the beauty of the findings.” Dr. Blobel also received the 1983 Warburg Medal, the highest award of the German Biochemical Society; the V.D. Mattia Award of the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology; the E. B. Wilson Award from the American Society for Cell Biology; Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize; the Waterford Bio-Medical Science Award; and the Max-Planck Forschungspreis. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, associate member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, a member of the American Philosophical Society and an honorary member of the German Society of Cell Biology and of the Japanese Biochemical Society. He served as president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 1990.