Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson

Stockholm, Oct 4: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the year 2017 has been awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for the development of cryo-electron microscopy, which both simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences while announcing the award here on Wednesday said that "they won the prize for "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution"."This method has moved biochemistry into a new era," the Academy said.

Dubochet was affiliated with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, Frank with Columbia University in New York and Henderson with MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Britain paved the way for imaging 3D structures of biomolecules.

Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life's chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals."

The award prize of 9 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) prize would be shared by the scientists.