The work by Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson makes it possible to image proteins and other molecules after freezing them rapidly to preserve their shape, providing a powerful new tool for medical research.
"It's like frames in a movie. Each of these pictures represents a frame and they can be put together into a movie and we can see what the molecules do," said Peter Brzezinski, a member of the Nobel committee for chemistry.
The new approach fills a previously blank space by generating images of everything from proteins that cause antibiotic resistance to the surface of the Zika virus. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awarded the 9 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize, said the technology had moved biochemistry into a new era. By freezing biomolecules mid-movement, scientists can unravel previously unseen processes — a major advance both for basic understanding and the potential development of new drugs.
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