2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - it's hopefully the year for metalloproteins

It's that time of the year again. Who will get the highest honor of the scientific research?

Chembark already has some math going for the predictions. His most bet is for "Nuclear Hormone Signaling, by Chambon/Evans/Jensen".  Thompson reuters says Louis Brus for QDots work based on citation counts.

As I posted several years ago, I think two things matter in nobel prize selection: the holy cycle and the nobel committee. According to the cycle it's the year for PChem. And this year's nobel committee:

Sven Lidin (Chairman), Professor of Inorganic Chemistry

Gunnar Karlström, Professor of Theoretical Chemistry

Måns Ehrenberg, Professor of Molecular Biology

Jan-Erling Bäckvall, Professor of Organic Chemistry

Astrid Gräslund (Secretary), Professor of Biophysics

Taking all these together, my bets are on a Biophysical Chemistry with a Theoretical touch.

The best trio would be something that includes Richard Holm and Stephen J. Lippard for their work on metalloproteins. I hope Sunney I. Chan joins in. Harry B. Gray may be selected as well but I am not sure. The committee may opt for a theoretical guy.

For the Nobel Prize in Physics, it is pretty obvious: Peter Higgs.

UPDATE: Sorry folks! Biochem won again: "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 was awarded jointly to Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors" Image Source