Agre, Peter Courtland (1949- )

US physician and chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2003 for his research concerning channels in cell membranes and in particular for his discovery of water channels. He shared the award with US physician and molecular biologist Roderick MacKinnon.

The transport of salts in and out of cell membranes is an important process considering that the average human body contains 70% salt water. As early as the 1850s, it was suspected that channels must exist to allow water transport through cells. But it took until 1988, when Agre isolated a membrane protein that carried out this task, before this theory could be proven. The discovery that the membrane protein was the water channel allowed the rapid development of studies of water transport in animals, plants, and bacteria, and has contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms behind many diseases, such as certain kidney and heart dysfunctions.

Agre was born in Northfield, Minnesota, and gained his MD from the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1974. Agre joined Johns Hopkins University as a research associate in 1981 and was appointed associate professor from 1988 to 1993. He took a sabbatical to the department of embryology at the Carnegie Institute of Washington from 1988 to 1989. Agre returned to Johns Hopkins University and was co-director of the office of research planning in the department of medicine 1990-94. From 1993 Agre has been professor at the departments of biological chemistry and medicine at Johns Hopkins. He was elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2000.