2 share Lasker Award for medical research

Two Bay Area scientists won this year's prestigious Lasker Award for basic medical research that revealed how nerve cells - called neurons - communicate with one another in the rapid-fire exchanges that underlie all of the brain's activity, from emotions to behavior.

Dr. Thomas Südhof, Stanford professor of molecular and cellular physiology, and Richard Scheller, executive vice president for research and early development at Genentech in South San Francisco, will share the Lasker Award.

Each worked independently of the other, ending up with similar discoveries showing how chemicals known as neurotransmitters are released at contact points, or synapses, in the brain.

The Lasker Awards, announced Monday, are among the most coveted science prizes in the world and have sometimes been dubbed "America's Nobels."

Eighty-three Lasker winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, including 31 in the last two decades.

"I am stunned and ecstatic by the award, and very much look forward to the event," Südhof said in an e-mail, referring to the Sept. 20 ceremony in New York honoring the scientists.

"It is the biggest honor I have ever received - although I am not sure I deserve it, I gladly accept it."

Genentech officials said Scheller was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

While the two scientists work in the same area of research and their findings overlap, they've never collaborated but consider each other friends, Südhof said.

Scheller's Lasker-winning work was conducted at Stanford, where he was a faculty member from 1982 to 2001. Südhof, who joined Stanford in 2008, did his research at the University of Texas-Southwestern in Dallas, where he spent most of the prior two decades.

At Genentech, Scheller, 59, is responsible for overseeing the strategy for the biotech company's research, drug discovery and early development activities.

Südhof, 57, who was born in Germany, received his medical degree from the University of Gottingen before working in Texas, where he switched from studying lipid metabolism to how synapses work.

"We are all proud of Dr. Südhof's contributions to science and grateful to the Lasker Foundation for recognizing the value of his work," said Dr. Lloyd Minor, dean of Stanford's School of Medicine, in a statement.

This is not the first major scientific award Südhof and Scheller have shared. In 2010, both scientists received the Kavli Prize in neuroscience, a Norwegian award for outstanding achievement in advancing knowledge and understanding of the brain and nervous system.

The Lasker Award, which is given in four areas of scientific research, comes with a $250,000 prize, which the two scientists will share.

Genentech officials said Scheller intends to donate his prize money to the Wildlife Conservation Network, a Bay Area organization dedicated to protecting endangered species and preserving their natural habitats.

Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver