Former NATO Science grantee shares 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The GFP was first observed in a species of bioluminescent jellyfish and later used as a tagging tool in bioscience to illuminate microscopic processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or the spread of cancer cells.  Dr. Tsien and his team have adjusted the structure of the protein and added fluorescent molecules from other natural sources to produce a broader palette of molecules that glow in different colours, which enable scientists to watch several biological processes simultaneously. 

Early in his career in 1988, Dr. Tsien received a NATO Collaborative Research Grant to cooperate with the Centre d’Immunologie INSERM-CNRS in Marseille, France, on analysing, at the single cell level, the activation of T-lymphocytes (an important cell type    of the human immune system).

The two other recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry were Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory and Boston University Medial School (USA) and Martin Chalfie of Columbia University (USA), who also made significant contributions to the discovery and use of GFP.