Making receptors a reality: the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

On October 10, 2012, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Drs Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka ‘for studies in G-protein-coupled receptors’ (GPCRs). This award is important to the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, and, especially, pharmacology, because it recognizes work done over several decades aimed at the elucidation of the structure and function of one of the most fundamental elements of pharmacology. As succinctly put by Humphrey Rang, the concept of the receptor was ‘pharmacology's big idea’ [1].