Chemistry Nobel Glows Florescent Green
By Larry Greenemeier
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=chemistry-nobel-glows-green
This year, three scientists, Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien, will be sharing the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year for their work on green fluorescent protein. By combining Shimomura’s discovery of GFP in Aequorea Victoria jellyfish, Chalfie’s demonstration of how the GFP can be used as a tag for DNA, and Tsien’s expansion of the technology, the three scientists were able to show researchers life processes that they would have never been able to view before, such as how cancer cells spread or how nerve cells develop in the brain. “This is an example of chemistry enabling so many other fields,” says John Frangioni, assistant professor of medicine and radiology at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “It highlights how chemistry can touch biology, medicine and other very practical endeavors. I'm gratified that the choice was one of a technology that enabled so may other areas of science.” The green florescent protein allows for researchers to trace and monitor cells. The three scientists will share the $1.4 million prize.
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4 comments:
Lara did well in starting her summary with a general, broad idea highlighting the point of the article, went into detail well over exactly what each of the three scientists did respectively, and then even used a good quote to express the broad reach of the discovery. I believe she could have described about more of the uses of this discovery and possibly given an opinion on the story. I was impressed by how a chemical found in jellyfish could have so many beneficial applications in so many varied areas of study.
Lara had a very good hook to get the readers attention, she also had a good fact to explanation ratio, and she was able to appropriately convey her ideas.
I think she could have described what the three did a little bit more, and she could have put it into her own words more.
I thought it was really cool how in the article researchers were able to, using green florescent protein, to trace and monitor the cells.
I think that it was good that Lara used quotes from the actual article, provided facts to support the points the article was proving, and at the beginning of the article going straight to her main point, of the scientists sharing the Nobel Prize.
However, I think Lara could have gone more in dept in how the scientists are able to show us these spreading cancer cells, and she could have put more facts into her review.
I think it is amazing that now we have the technology to be able to see how the cancer cells in people's bodies spread.
I liked how she described how green flurescent protein could be used to moniter cells, I also liked how she showed how chemistry can be used in other fields and that she used doctors quotes to show how this would help modern medicine. Next time I suggest that she gives a little back round on the three scientists and that she describe what lead them to pursue this discovery. Lastly the fact that this would be used to trace and moniter cells helped me to understand the true importance of what this men did.
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