Trio takes chemistry Nobel Prize for ‘cool method’ to freeze and study tiny molecules
Thanks to the team’s work, which uses electron beams to photograph the structures of cells, researchers can routinely produce 3D structures of biomolecules
Scientists Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for cryo-electron microscopy, a simpler and better method for imaging tiny, frozen molecules.
Thanks to the international team’s new “cool method”, which uses electron beams to photograph the tiniest structures of cells, “researchers can now routinely produce three-dimensional structures of biomolecules”, the Nobel chemistry committee said.
“Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualise processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.”
The ultra-sensitive imaging method allows molecules to be flash-frozen and studied in their natural form, without the need for dyes or fixatives.
It has revealed previously unseen details of the machinery inside cells, viruses and proteins, and has shed light on enzymes involved in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.