Centennial Home » Our Stories » On This Day » Robert Lefkowitz Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Dr. Robert Lefkowitz stands at the podium in front of Duke Health branding

On This Day: October 10, 2012

Robert Lefkowitz Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry

On Oct. 10, 2012, Dr. Robert Lefkowitz became Duke’s first Nobel Prize winner.

The 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Lefkowitz and his former postdoc Brian Kobilka of Stanford for their research on a family of receptors that help the body’s cells sense and respond to things like hormones, neurotransmitters and other signals.

Today, more than a third of all approved drugs act through these receptors – called G-protein-coupled receptors – including antihistamines, ulcer drugs and beta blockers, to relieve hypertension, angina and coronary disease.

In 2023 the university celebrated Lefkowitz’s 80th birthday and his 50 years at Duke.