Three American obtain the 2008 Chemistry Nobel Prize.

Osamu Shimomura, Roger Y. Tsien and Martin Chalfie are three awarded researchers, the last one was in Chile on 2000 invited by the Cellular Regulation and Pathology Center, CRCP, to take part in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans Basic Biology symposium.

Today, the Center researchers use the tecnique developed by the Americans, to know and to understand the cellular and molecular bases of important patologías as the Alzheimer, the Cancer and the fibrosis.

The story begins in 1962 when Shimomura for the first time isolates this protein in the jellyfish, Aequorea victory, discovering that becomes green under the effect of ultraviolet beams, with which their processes became visible. Then came Chalfie's contribution, who for the first time took this technique to the study of the biological phenomena and finally Tsien perfected it when extended the chromatic palette, which allows today to show with different colors the proteins and to observe their interactions.

A light in the dark

Proteins are a fundamental part of all chemical processes that happen in an alive being. In the same way they intervene in all their patologys and diseases, therefore to know them it’s fundamental for the comprehension and treatment development. The problem is that many of these molecules are invisible and there it’s where lays this discovery’s value.

This signing tecnique it’s considered to be a key for the development of biomedicine since it allows scientists to show with this luminous protein, invisible others without this etiquette, isolating and studying the behavior of those known to be determinant in diseases. From this knowledge it is possible to develop specific treatments.

With the GFP help, today, researchers can follow the evolution of cells damaged by Alzheimer's disease, see and study the development of nervous cells and the spread of the carcinogenic cells.

The awarded

Shimomura, got doctor's degree on Organic Chemistry in 1960, in Nagoya's University, Japan. Today he is an emeritus professor in the Marine Biology Laboratory of that center, besides being Medicine professor of the Boston University.

Chalfie got doctor's degree on Neurobiology in 1977, in Harvard University, USA. Since 1972 he’s Biological Sciences professor at Columbia University.

Tsien got doctor's degree on Physiology on 1977, in the Cambridge University, England. Nowadays he’s professor at San Diego's University.

On December 10, as the rest of all the awardwinners, it will be given to them the prize that they will share in equal parts and that ascends to ten million kronas, little less than one and a half million dollars.

This week also was announced the Medicine Nobel prize for the German, Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of the human papiloma virus, and for the Frenchmen Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of the AIDS virus.

Also was announced the Physics Nobel prize winner, which was granted to the American Yoichiro Nambu and the Japanese Makoto Kobayashi y Toshihide Maskawa for their work in quarks, subatomic particles.

Still lacking to know the names of those who will be the next awarded in Literature, Peace and Economy.

2008
10 October

Three American obtain the 2008 Chemistry Nobel Prize.

The discovery of the fluorescent protein GFP, which allows today to observe natural processes that before were imperceptible, is the reason by which has been given the maximum recognition for a scientist.

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