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8 October 2008
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2008 jointly to
Osamu Shimomura, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical School, MA, USA,
Martin Chalfie, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
and
Roger Y. Tsien, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP".
The remarkable brightly glowing green fluorescent protein, GFP, was first observed
in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea victoria in 1962. Since then, this protein
has become one of the most important tools used in contemporary bioscience. With
the aid of GFP, researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously
invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells
spread.
Tens of thousands of different proteins reside in a living organism, controlling
important chemical processes in minute detail. If this protein machinery malfunctions,
illness and disease often follow. That is why it has been imperative for bioscience
to map the role of different proteins in the body.
This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewards the initial discovery of GFP
and a series of important developments which have led to its use as a tagging
tool in bioscience. By using DNA technology, researchers can now connect GFP to
other interesting, but otherwise invisible, proteins. This glowing marker allows
them to watch the movements, positions and interactions of the tagged proteins.
Researchers can also follow the fate of various cells with the help of GFP: nerve
cell damage during Alzheimer's disease or how insulin-producing beta cells
are created in the pancreas of a growing embryo. In one spectacular experiment,
researchers succeeded in tagging different nerve cells in the brain of a mouse
with a kaleidoscope of colours.
The story behind the discovery of GFP is one with the three Nobel Prize Laureates
in the leading roles:
Osamu Shimomura first isolated GFP from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which drifts with the currents off the west coast of North America. He discovered
that this protein glowed bright green under ultraviolet light.
Martin Chalfie demonstrated the value of GFP as a luminous genetic tag
for various biological phenomena. In one of his first experiments, he coloured
six individual cells in the transparent roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans with
the aid of GFP.
Roger Y. Tsien contributed to our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces.
He also extended the colour palette beyond green allowing researchers to give
various proteins and cells different colours. This enables scientists to follow
several different biological processes at the same time.
Read more about this year's prize |
Information for the Public |
Scientific Background |
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Links and Further Reading |
Osamu Shimomura, Japanese citizen. Born 1928 in Kyoto, Japan. Ph.D. in
organic chemistry 1960 from Nagoya University, Japan. Professor emeritus at Marine
Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical
School, MA, USA.
www.conncoll.edu/ccacad/zimmer/GFP-ww/shimomura.html
Martin Chalfie, US citizen. Born 1947, grew up in Chicago, IL, USA. Ph.D.
in neurobiology 1977 from Harvard University. William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor
of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, since 1982.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/faculty-data/martin-chalfie/faculty.html
Roger Y. Tsien, US citizen. Born 1952 in New York, NY, USA. Ph.D. in physiology
1977 from Cambridge University, UK. Professor at University of California, San
Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA, since 1989.
www.tsienlab.ucsd.edu
The Prize amount: SEK 10 million to be shared equally between the Laureates
Contacts: Erik Huss, Press Officer, phone +46 8 673 95 44, +46 70 673 96 50, erik.huss@kva.se
Annika Moberg, Editor, phone +46 8 673 95 22, +46 70 263 74 46, annika.moberg@kva.se
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics, but endeavours to promote the exchange of ideas between various disciplines.