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Agenda Item No. 4(A) EL CERRITO CITY COUNCIL PROCLAMATION Recognizing Dr. Randy Schekman upon the Award of his 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and Declaring December 10, 2013 Randy Schekman Day WHEREAS, Randy W. Schekman along with his wife, Nancy Walls, are 37 year residents of the City of El Cerrito; and WHEREAS, Dr. Schekman obtained his PhD in 1974 under the supervision of Arthur Kornberg (Nobel Prize 1959), has won numerous awards for his scientific contributions to humanity and is a professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of California, Berkeley, is UC Berkeley’s 22nd Nobel Laureate and the first at UC Berkeley to receive the prize in the area of physiology or medicine; and WHEREAS, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to scientists who have made the most important discoveries for the benefit of mankind; and WHEREAS, Dr. Schekman has won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in revealing the machinery that regulates the transport and secretion of proteins in cells. He shares the prize with James E. Rothman of Yale University and Thomas C. Südhof of Stanford University who as a group, have solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport system; and WHEREAS, discoveries by Dr. Schekman about how yeast secrete proteins led directly to the success of the biotechnology industry, which was able to coax yeast to release useful protein drugs, such as insulin and human growth hormone illuminating the workings of a fundamental process in cell physiology; and WHEREAS, these findings enabled the biotechnology industry to exploit the secretion system in yeast to create and release pharmaceutical products and industrial enzymes. Today, one-third of the insulin used worldwide by diabetics is produced by yeast, and the entire world’s supply of the hepatitis B vaccine is from yeast. NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of El Cerrito hereby celebrates and commends Dr. Randy Schekman, for the award of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in revealing the machinery that regulates the transport and secretion of proteins in cells and declare December 10, 2013, RANDY SCHEKMAN DAY in the City of El Cerrito on which date King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will confer the Nobel Medal, Diploma and Prize on Dr. Schekman. Dated: December 3, 2013 Gregory B. Lyman, Mayor