Michael Berridge, who uncovered the mechanism of cellular signalling by which external signals are received at the cell membrane surface and transmitted internally, has passed away at age 81. In 1989, Berridge received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for discoveries concerning signal transduction (along with Alfred Gilman, Edwin Krebs, and Yasutomi Nishizuka).

Berridge’s investigations into cellular signalling shaped future research and illumitated the biology of disease from cancer to cardiovascular and neurological diseases.