Health and Science Story

22 November 2008 19:37 BST

'Glowing protein' research wins Nobel chemistry prize

Groundbreaking research on a green fluorescent protein found in jellyfish has been awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry.

Martin Chalfie, Roger Tsien and Osamu Shimomura were jointly awarded the prize for their work in allowing the exploitation of the genetic mechanisms responsible for the remarkable luminosity.

The work on the GFP protein has allowed scientists to tag biological systems, enabling researchers to "watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread", a statement from the Nobel academy declared.

"This year's Nobel prize in chemistry rewards the initial discovery of GFP and a series of important developments which have led to its use as a tagging tool in bioscience. By using DNA technology, researchers can now connect GFP to other interesting, but otherwise invisible, proteins," the Nobel Foundation said. This glowing marker allows them to watch the movements, positions and interactions of the tagged proteins."

Mr Shimomura was the first person to isolate the GFP from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, found off the west coast of North America.

It was Mr Shimomura who discovered that the protein glowed bright green under ultraviolet light.

Mr Chalfie then demonstrated the value of GFP as a luminous genetic tag for various biological phenomena.

The academy describes Mr Tsien's contribution to the general understanding of how GFP fluoresces as "extended the colour palette beyond green allowing researchers to give various proteins and cells different colours".

"This enables scientists to follow several different biological processes at the same time", a statement declared.