© Nobel Media. Ill. N. Elmehed

MCB joins the rest of the scientific community in congratulating NSF funded researcher Joachim Frank who, along with Jaques Dubochet, and Richard Henderson, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in the development of Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM).

“Cryo-electron microscopy fundamentally changed biology and biochemistry, allowing scientists to create 3-D reconstructions of the biomolecular processes that support life,” said NSF Director France Córdova. “The technology delivers an unprecedented look at life at the atomic scale, providing us with accurate models of everything from viruses to antibodies. Joachim Frank demonstrated that potential to NSF in 1984, when the agency helped him acquire a high-resolution electron microscope for 3-D reconstruction, and then continued to support his development of new applications for the technology over the following decades. Biochemistry owes Frank and this year’s other two Chemistry laureates, Richard Henderson and Jacques Dubochet, a debt for this important visualization tool.”

Dr. Engin Serpersu, Program Director and Molecular Biophysics Cluster Leader stated that “technological developments and improvements in data analysis transformed Cryo-EM from being suitable only to study global structural properties of biological complexes to providing 3D structures with atomic level resolution. These developments also allow researchers to examine proteins smaller than we ever imagined possible, including ones as small as 100 kDa. Undoubtedly, Cryo-EM is now one of the mainstay structural tools helping scientists in a broad range of biological problems and its development is well worth this honor.”