Chemist who died on 24 August did pioneering work with green fluorescent protein.
He helped scientists to see things they could never have imagined. Roger Tsien, who died last week aged 64, shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work with the green fluorescent protein (GFP), which has become an indispensable tool in life sciences research.
Tsien, a chemist who worked mainly at the University of California, San Diego, probed the protein’s structure and used the insights to boost GFP’s glow and build a whole palette of fluorescent proteins, which researchers have used to trace individual proteins and cells.
Here Nature celebrates Tsien’s work — and some of the objects that might never have been seen without his insights.
Roger Tsien
The source
Peering inside
The Brainbow
Vital structure
Glowing pigs
Green monkeys
Painted scene
Related links
Related links
Related links in Nature Research
Related external links
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cressey, D. Roger Tsien’s legacy: The creations that lit up biology. Nature (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.20532
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.20532