the nobel prize in chemistry was awarded this morning to osamu shimomura, martin chalfie, and roger tsien "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, gfp." there is certainly no debate about the importance of gfp to molecular and cell biology research, and it is probably a very well deserved award, but for whatever reason, i'm a bit surprised by it. anyway...
...gfp was originally isolated from the jellyfish aequorea victoria, and it was found that it's fluorescent qualities could be used in a variety of research applications, including the live imaging of cells and organisms. many bacteria, yeast, plant, fly, and mammalian cells, including human, have been created using gfp as a marker. the cells generally function normally, however, when exposed to a certain wavelength of light, the gfp within the cells fluoresces. live fluorescence microscopy can be used to observe these cells over time, expressing one or more proteins tagged with gfp. cells labeled with gfp produce some incredible beautiful images.
hippocampal neuron expressing gfp
a moth expressing gfp in its eyes
mutations made to gfp have allowed for the creation of other fluorescent proteins, for example blue-, yellow-, and cyan-fluorescent proteins. here is a confocal microscopy image of a mouse cerebral cortex, in which each neuron is randomly expressing a different gfp variant. the mouse is called the brainbow mouse.
although gfp is an incredibly important discovery, i bet the less biological, and more strictly chemistry chemists (e.g. organic, materials, physical, etc.) would like to see a few less nobels given for biochemical discoveries. it's just a hunch.
10 comments:
Good stuff - though deep.
i went to the great dane with roger tsein when he came to madison. he seems like a good guy. i remember him being a hearty eater. Also he drank pineapple juice.
that is great insight into the behavior of a nobel laureate. not the kind of thing one gets to hear every day. i wonder if many nobel prize winners enjoy pineapple juice.
I will never be a Nobel prize winner, because I hate pineapple juice. It makes me cough.
it's worth noting that pineapple shows up on the menu for the nobel awards dinner banquet of 2006 not once, but TWICE. there just might be something to this.....
here's an overview of the menu:
On the menu at the Nobel Prize banquet
Posted Dec 13th 2006 7:02AM by Nicole Weston
Filed under: Parties, Dinner, Northern Europe
The 2006 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony was held on December 10th at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden. The event is, of course, one of the most well-recognized celebrations of achievement in the world and prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Economics and Literature were officially awarded.
In addition to the ceremony, there is a huge banquet - and we always look forward to hearing about what was served. This year, the three-course menu included a mosaic of salmon and scallops with Kalix bleak roe; herb-baked saddle of lamb, mashed potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, olive oil-glazed vegetables and port wine sauce; and pineapple parfait with caramelized pineapple salad and mint. The wines served included Pommery Grand Cru Vintage 1996 Champagne, Veenwouden Classic 2002 Paarl and Château Haut-Bergeron 2003 Sauternes.
I met him too when he came to Madtown, He be smart. I agree about the chemistry thing.. it should be called biochemistry and chemistry.. or chemical biology... thats a great buzz word.
I wonder how much a brainbrow mouse costs. I bet it's pricey...
Just like McDonalds, I'm loving it. Do believe your work has been Nobel worthy in the past?
has it been worthy in the past? no.
We'll have to talk more about gfp when we visit.
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