The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008
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Press Release
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".
Glowing proteins – a guiding star for biochemistry
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.
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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.