James Rothman, a Yale cell biologist, was among eight researchers named recently as winners of this year’s $1 million Kavli Prizes, which honor work in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.

Rothman, the Fergus F. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Yale, is one of three recipients of the neuroscience prize for his work with cell vesicles and the release of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that send information between neurons.

He shares the award with Thomas Suedhof of Stanford University and Richard Scheller of the biotechnology company Genentech. Both discovered genes that govern the way nerve cells in the brain communicate.

“These three people took the study of communication between synapses and brought it from a physiological to molecular level,” neuroscientist Eric Kandel of Columbia University and member of the Kavli committee which selected the winners, said in a statement.

Rothman’s work showed how neurotransmitters are transported within the nerve cell in vesicles that release their contents into the synapse. Rothman discovered that two proteins, independently identified by Sheller and Sudhof, helped regulate that process.

Rothman, a Yale alum, is chairman of the department of cell biology. He lives in Madison.

“The University is doubly proud that a member of our faculty, who is also a graduate, has received such a prestigious recognition,” Yale President Richard Levin said.

The Kavli Prizes are a partnership between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by entrepreneur Fred Kavli to promote basic science research.

Rothman is an international leader in understanding how neurotransmitters are transported within the nerve cell in vesicles that eventually fuse with the cell membrane, releasing their contents into the synapse. Rothman discovered that two proteins, independently identified by Sheller and Sudhoff, helped regulate the release process, which is called exocytosis.  

Rothman is chairman of the department of cell biology and has helped launch the Yale Center for High Throughput Cell Biology at Yale’s West Campus. He came to Yale from Columbia University in 2008.  A Yale College graduate, Rothman has received numerous honors, including the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize and the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. The awards are often called “pre-Nobels” because many recipients have gone on to become Nobel Laureates.

The Kavli Prizes are a partnership between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by entrepreneur Fred Kavli to promote basic science research. Click here for the Kavli Prize web page.