Does anyone know what GFP is?
GFP is an acronym for Green Fluorescent Protein, a glowing jellyfish protein that was isolated and developed by three scientists for use in biochemistry as a marker to view important chemical reactions. These three scientists have been honored for their landmark work with a Nobel Prize!
Why is this important to me? Well firstly, I am always interested in Nobel recipients. Secondly. chemists always joke about how their work is never likely to win them a prize. Most scientists are rather humble. I'll bet these three scientists saw all the potential of their work in the beginning of their research, but never figured anyone else would! Maybe they figured they would get a patent out of it, and therefore some money ... but I'll bet they never bargained on a nobel prize?!? In fact, the three didn't actually work together, and the story goes like this:
I am also excited because this is the sort of science that I hope to one day pioneer. I don't just do science, I like to create it, too. I am really into method development and I love using proteins, molecules and molcular biology to qualitatively and quantitatively understand the world around us. I have used GFP and I agree that this award is highly deserving. Congratulations!
In 1962 organic chemist Osamu Shimomura identified the form and function of the remarkably bright protein that gives the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria its eerie, yet beautiful glow. His discovery has since become one of the most important tools used in modern biological sciences. It allows researchers to engineer cells and even whole organisms to express this fluorescent protein under specific physiological or chemical conditions. This then allows them to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or the spread of cancer cells.
Martin Chalfie demonstrated how GFP could be used as a fluorescent genetic tag for various biological phenomena, having coloured six individual cells in the transparent roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans using GFP in his early experiments. Roger Tsien contributed to our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces and extended the colour palette available to biological researchers to allow them to label various proteins and cells with all the colours of the rainbow. This development allows scientists to track several different biological processes simultaneously.
Without the chemistry of GFP, post-genomic era scientists would lack the experimental tools giving them access to quantitative and experimentally well-defined monitoring at the molecular level of biochemical changes taking place within the cell and between cells in all living systems. The development of GFP was pioneered by the two scientists that share the 2008 Prize with Osamu Shimomura, Roger Tsien and Martin Chalfie.
source: www.spectroscopyNOW.com, Atomic Absorption, Glowing Nobel Prize, David Bradley
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