Great scientific achievements are a result of collaboration and not isolation, Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie said on Saturday while narrating his journey to the coveted prize.
Mr. Chalfie, a professor of biological sciences at Columbia University, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2008 for his work, showing the use of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) for tagging with other proteins. The GFP can be used to observe biological processes in cells. Prof. Chalfie had demonstrated his work in a ringworm.
“I first heard the use of GFP in a talk in April 1989. I immediately met the scientist who delivered the talk and we agreed to experiment together,” said Prof. Chalife. “In the meanwhile, I got married and moved out of New York,” he added.
The first experiment with GFP that eventually paved the way for a Noble, did not happen until September 1992. “I had missed the phone call from the other scientist and he assumed I was not into science any more. But three years later, we did that experiment,” Prof. Chalfie said.
Prof. Chalfie’s discovery has now become a cornerstone of biological science, with scientists using GFP to identify gene expression through protein in several applications ranging from medical science to warfare.
The impact of his work in the present time notwithstanding, Prof. Chalfie said scepticism is a common first reaction in science. When he was asked about concerns and scepticism raised over the use of GFPs interfering with experimental parameters, Prof. Chalfie said his wife’s work has demonstrated GPFs need not interfere.
“In an experiment with fruit fly, my wife used GFPs and showed that they did not interfere with the biological process. While interference is a concern, it can be addressed in the experiment design,” he said while jokingly adding he wished his wife could have shared the Nobel with him.
Earlier in the day, Prof. Chalfie addressed a gathering of scientists at the inaugural of the International Congress of Cell Biology, being organised by the city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
