"The remarkable brightly glowing green fluorescent protein, GFP, was first observed in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea victoria in 1962. Since then, this protein has become one of the most important tools used in contemporary bioscience. With the aid of GFP, researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread.
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. This glowing marker allows them to watch the movements, positions and interactions of the tagged proteins. "
io9 has some freaky pictures of this in practice including:
One of the winners, Martin Chalfie found out he won via the Internet:
"A couple of day ago, I inadvertently adjusted my phone so it had a very soft ring," the Columbia University biologist told a press conference hours after he received the winning news from the Swedish academy.
"I woke up this morning ... and realized there was a phone ringing somewhere," he said, but he thought the call was from a neighboring apartment.
"I was a little bit annoyed that they were not answering their phone. Then I realized, that they must have announced the Nobel prize in Chemistry, so I decided to find out what schmuck won this year," he said.
"So I opened up my laptop and found out I was the schmuck."
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