The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of important medicine – Medexpress.pl

Source: SIU School of Medicine

Thanks to the achievements of this year’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry – Eric Betziga, William Moernera and Stephan Hella – scientists are now at the disposal of high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, the method by which living cells can be studied at the level of the smallest molecules.

– Most of the processes in biochemistry occurs in a very small scale. Experts have been debating how to increase the resolution of microscopes, ever since the invention of the first of them. This year’s award celebrates the optical cross the border. Three scientists in various ways contributed to the removal of restrictions related – said in support of Sven Lidin prize from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.

The winners’ works have helped to overcome the limitations of classical optical microscope. We also managed to look through them to the nanoworld, for example. See how the mechanisms of transcription of DNA to proteins inside the cell. This enabled the study of the molecular processes in real time, “reading” the code tracking DNA or proteins involved in the formation of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s. Also showed structural changes in the neurons of the brain in the learning process.

The first Nobel Prize winners, Germany Stefan Hell in 2000. Developed a prototype STED fluorescence microscope with an extremely high resolution. In turn, two Americans Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner, working independently, the foundations of the method, referred to as single-molecule microscopy. Betzig applied it for the first time in 2006.

The laureates will share equally the amount of SEK 8 million (approx. 3.6 million zł.)

Sources: Nobelprize .org / TVP.info