Vane, John Robert (1927– )

English pharmacologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1982 for the discovery of prostaglandins and related biologically active substances. He demonstrated the wide role of prostaglandins in the human body, produced in response to illness and stress. He shared the prize with Sune Bergström and Bengt Samuelsson, both of Sweden.

Vane studied chemistry and pharmacology at Birmingham and St Catherine's College, Oxford. He taught at Yale in the period 1953–55 and at the Institute of Basic Medical Services in London l955–61. He worked at the Wellcome Research Laboratories 1973–85.