Three researchers who made fundamental discoveries on the structure and function of the ribosome will receive the linkurl:Nobel Prize for Chemistry;http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/press.html this year. Understanding how the ribosome works at the atomic level has been crucial for understanding key cellular processes underlying life.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Image: MRC Laboratory of
Molecular Biology
linkurl:Venkatraman Ramakrishnan,;http://www.gf.org/fellows/11944-venkatraman-ramakrishnan a molecular and cell biologist at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, linkurl:Thomas Steitz,;http://www.mbb.yale.edu/faculty/pages/steitzt.html a Howard Hughes Medical Institute molecular biochemist at Yale University, and linkurl:Ada Yonath,;http://www.weizmann.ac.il/sb/faculty_pages/Yonath/home.html a structural biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, will share the prize equally. "I'm very pleased. I think the committee got it right," linkurl:Peter Moore,;http://www.chem.yale.edu/faculty/moore.html a biochemist at Yale University who has worked extensively with Steitz and Ramakrishnan, told The Scientist. "I'm just delighted to see the structure determination recognized by the Nobel committee." The trio's work "really represents the key scientific discoveries in...
The Scientist
Thomas A. Steitz
Image: Michael Marsland/Yale University
Ada E. Yonath
Image: Weizmann Institute of Science
Haloarcula marismortuiCorrection (October 8): In a previous version of this story, we incorrectly identified Haloarcula marismortui as a bacterium. It is in fact an Archaeon. The Scientist regrets the error.



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