ID :
23263
Wed, 10/08/2008 - 19:54
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https://oananews.org//node/23263
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1 Japanese, 2 Americans win Nobel Prize in chemistry
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 8 Kyodo - Scientists Osamu Shimomura of Japan and Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien of the United States have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Wednesday.
They were awarded ''for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent
protein, GFP'' and will equally share the 10 million Swedish kronor prize, it
said.
Shimomura, 80, professor emeritus at Boston University Medical School, ''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,'' it said.
Shimomura, a Japanese citizen who now resides in Massachusetts, is the fifth
Japanese Nobel laureate in chemistry.
A native of Kyoto Prefecture, Shimomura obtained a Ph.D. in organic chemistry
at Nagoya University in 1960 and was a senior researcher at the Marine
Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, from 1982 to 2001.
Shimomura first observed GFP in jellyfish in the summer of 1961 while working
for the Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washington and
published a thesis on the discovery the following year.
The GFP ''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,'' the academy said.
Chalfie, born in 1947, is a professor in biological sciences at Columbia
University. He has a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University.
He won the prize for having demonstrated ''the value of GFP as a luminous
genetic tag for various biological phenomena.''
Tsien was born in New York in 1952 and gained a Ph.D. from Cambridge University
in 1977. He is now a professor at the University of California in San Diego. He
contributed to ''our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces'' and
''extended the color palette beyond green allowing researchers to give various
proteins and cells different colors.''
Haruki Niwa, professor in bioluminescence at the University of
Electro-Communications, said, ''Dr. Shimomura is a leading figure in the
research of bioluminescence functions. His finding has become vital for modern
bioscience research.''
An awarding ceremony is scheduled to be held in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
They were awarded ''for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent
protein, GFP'' and will equally share the 10 million Swedish kronor prize, it
said.
Shimomura, 80, professor emeritus at Boston University Medical School, ''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,'' it said.
Shimomura, a Japanese citizen who now resides in Massachusetts, is the fifth
Japanese Nobel laureate in chemistry.
A native of Kyoto Prefecture, Shimomura obtained a Ph.D. in organic chemistry
at Nagoya University in 1960 and was a senior researcher at the Marine
Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, from 1982 to 2001.
Shimomura first observed GFP in jellyfish in the summer of 1961 while working
for the Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washington and
published a thesis on the discovery the following year.
The GFP ''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,'' the academy said.
Chalfie, born in 1947, is a professor in biological sciences at Columbia
University. He has a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University.
He won the prize for having demonstrated ''the value of GFP as a luminous
genetic tag for various biological phenomena.''
Tsien was born in New York in 1952 and gained a Ph.D. from Cambridge University
in 1977. He is now a professor at the University of California in San Diego. He
contributed to ''our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces'' and
''extended the color palette beyond green allowing researchers to give various
proteins and cells different colors.''
Haruki Niwa, professor in bioluminescence at the University of
Electro-Communications, said, ''Dr. Shimomura is a leading figure in the
research of bioluminescence functions. His finding has become vital for modern
bioscience research.''
An awarding ceremony is scheduled to be held in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
