On 7 October 2013, the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy W Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof for “their discoveries of machinery that regulates vesicle trafficking, an important transport system in our cells.” Prior to this research, knowledge of the vesicle transport system used by eukaryotic cells was essentially limited to what could be observed, including its various tasks and actions and its enormous significance in cell survival. The question remained unanswered, however; it was exactly how this system was able to execute and control its tasks with such efficiency and precision throughout the cellular body and beyond. Thus, Rothman, Schekman, and Sudhof brought a breakthrough to the current understanding of the vesicle transport system with their discoveries about the mechanisms underlying the system. The main metaphor used to explain the vesicle transport system in cells is a typical factory in the way it produces and exports molecules essential for different cellular activities similar to how a factory produces and delivers its products to consumers. Cells, especially eukaryotic cells, are made up of different sections called organelles in which various cellular functions take place. “This compartmentalization greatly improves the efficiency of many cellular functions and prevents potentially dangerous molecules from roaming freely within the cell” (Zierath & Lendahl). This quote shows the advantages of specialization in cell division; however, due to this “compartmentalization” of the cell, a system is needed to transport and exchange molecules between these different intracellular sections to support c...... middle of paper...... Therefore, cell transport system Defective vesicles can lead to disease or possibly death if cellular activity is somehow impaired or if a mutation is present. The findings presented by Schekman, Rothman and Sudhof have great significance here as they provide a knowledge base on which to rely for the treatment of various diseases. The Nobel Prize press release stated: “The system is critical for a variety of physiological processes in which vesicle fusion must be controlled, ranging from signaling in the brain to the release of immune hormones and cytokines. Defective vesicle transport occurs in a variety of diseases including a number of neurological and immunological disorders, as well as diabetes. Furthermore, with new understanding of the mechanisms underlying vesicle transport, researchers can address the mysteries of some diseases in a different way..