The following is a list of the Nobel laureates during 1996 - 2000 with a description of the works that won them their prizes:(1996) P C DOHERTY & R M ZINKERNAGEL — for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence; (1997) S B PRUSINER — for his discovery of ‘prions ’ a new biological principle of infection'; (1998) R F FURCHGOTT, L J IGNARRO & F MURAD — for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system; (1999) G BLOBEL — for the discovery that ‘proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell’; (2000) A CARLSSON, P GREENGARD & E R KANDEL — for their discoveries concerning 'signal transduction in the nervous system'.