Shimomura, Osamu (1928-2018), a Japanese-born American scientist, won a share of the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery and isolation of the green fluorescent protein (GFP). GFP is a naturally glowing molecule that glows green under blue or ultraviolet light. It can be linked to other proteins, “tagging” them so they can be viewed with a microscope. Shimomura shared the award with two American researchers who helped develop this technique, the biologist Martin Chalfie and the chemist Roger Tsien.
Shimomura first announced the discovery of GFP in 1962. He isolated it from the glowing cells of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. But he did not conduct a more detailed study of the protein until the 1970’s. He then found GFP to be unique in several ways. Most importantly, he found that once GFP was made in the jellyfish, it did not need added energy to glow. Many other molecules that glow need a steady supply of energy to do so. GFP is also small compared to other glowing molecules. It can thus be attached to another protein without impairing the tagged protein’s natural function. These qualities make GFP an ideal protein “tag.” In the 1990’s, Chalfie, Tsien, and other scientists developed a technique showing how GFP could be used as a tag. Researchers can now use GFP tags to study the movement and function of proteins, including those involved in such diseases as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Shimomura was born in Kyoto, Japan, on Aug. 27, 1928. He graduated from the Nagasaki College of Pharmacy in 1951. In 1955, he began work as a researcher at Nagoya University. Although he was not a graduate student, the university in 1960 granted Shimomura a doctor’s degree in organic chemistry for his research. From 1960 to 1963, he worked as a research associate in biology at Princeton University. In 1963, he became a professor of earth science at Nagoya University. He returned to Princeton in 1965 as a research biochemist. From 1982 to 2001, he held positions at both the Boston University School of Medicine and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Shimomura died on Oct. 19, 2018.
See also Chalfie, Martin ; Tsien, Roger Yonchien .
