Günter Blobel (1936-2018)
Günter Blobel was a German-American cell biologist born in Silesia, which is now part of
Poland. After trying out medicine practice for few years in Germany, he moved to USA for PhD
followed by postdoctoral training at The Rockefeller University, New York. He was the recipient
of many awards, including the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for the discovery
that proteins have intrinsic signals ‘Zip code-like’ that governs their transport and localization in
the cell. Günter spent more than 50 years at The Rockefeller University, New York, where he
worked with a mission to understand how the cell coordinates protein trafficking. His work and
contributions are elegantly enlisted in some of the best cell biology paper of our times.
During his entire career, he was fearless in adopting different techniques, right from yeast
genetics, electrophysiology to structural biology. His work elegantly demonstrated how various
approaches, when coupled together, could bring out wholesome answers. Besides being a critical
and passionate researcher, he was an inspiring mentor who instilled confidence in his students
and postdocs to pursue research with a bold and free mind.
Günter was a very generous person at heart who always supported his colleagues and causes
around him. His contribution to Dresden is well renowned, but what I personally witnessed
during my stay in his laboratory is that his compassionate heart was always keen to take care of
small issues around him with equal eagerness. I will miss him thoroughly.
Radha Chauhan