The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1998 jointly to Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad for their discoveries concerning “nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system”.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a gas that transmits signals in the organism. Signal transmission by a gas that is produced by one cell, penetrates through membranes and regulates the function of another cell represents an entirely new principle for signalling in biological systems. The discoverers of NO as a signal molecule are awarded this year’s Nobel Prize.

Read the full press release at nobelprize.org