Krebs, Edwin Gerhard

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Edwin Gerhard Krebs, 1918–, American biochemist, b. Lansing, Iowa. He and fellow Univ. of Washington professor Edmond Fischer discovered a biological regulatory mechanism, reversible protein phosphorylation, that affects nearly all human cells. The mechanism, which because of its reversibility can occur repeatedly, regulates cell processes and functions and triggers the release of hormones and amplifies their effects. For their work, Krebs and Fischer shared the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.