Body sensors research

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Part of an article in the London Guardian. The sensors should be of interest to MA practitioners since they govern actions from push hands to fight/flight reaction

Nobel prize in chemistry for nailing receptors behind fight-or-flightRobert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka share Nobel for discovering molecular switches that underpin cells' response to environment
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 October 2012 11.37 EDT ) Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitzs win Nobel prize in Chemistry, for discovery of molecular sensors video Two American doctors whose work over four decades has revealed how the body responds to the smells, sights, flavours and threats of the outside world have won this year's Nobel prize in chemistry.
Robert Lefkowitz at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and Brian Kobilka at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, share science's most prestigious award – and 8m Swedish kronor (£744,000) – for their discovery of molecular sensors called G-protein-coupled receptors or GPCRs.
The sensors take the form of proteins that act as gatekeepers between cells and the environment they live in. When a substance latches on to the outer part of a sensor protein, it causes it to change shape, triggering a response inside the cell.
Scientists now know of a whole family of GPCRs that detect hundreds of different substances in and around the body. Work on the receptors has underpinned decades of progress in medicine, with half of all pharmaceuticals acting on the proteins.
The huge variety of GPCRs allows individual organs in the body to react in different ways to the same stimulant. A surge of adrenaline through the body, for example, acts through GPCRs to make the heart race, the lungs heave, muscles contract and pupils widen. Without GPCRs, humans would not have the famous "fight-or-flight" response that is crucial for survival.