Prof. Martin Chalfie is a world famous biological scientist. A professor in the Department of Biological Science at Columbia University since 1982, he was the first person to show that a fluorescent protein, originally found in jellyfish, could be used in living organisms.  In so doing, he launched the “Green Revolution” in biomedical research. This work, reported in 1994, introduced fluorescent proteins as luminescent markers for gene expression. This technique has been widely applied in the biological and medical sciences, where the use of fluorescent proteins has led to a greater understanding of both basic biological processes and of models of disease.

In 2008, Prof. Martin Chalfie shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with the Japanese scientist Osamu Simomura and American Chinese scientist Roger Y. Tsien for the significant breakthroughs they have made in the field of fluorescent proteins. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has placed the discovery and development of these proteins on a par with the invention of the microscope.  The Nobel Prize Committee identified fluorescent proteins as one of the most important tools in contemporary biological research.

This technique has already deepened our knowledge of cell division, chromosomal duplication and division, growth and signal transduction, and other intracellular processes. Put in metaphorical terms, these fluorescent proteins provide a molecular flashlight, a beacon, within cells that allow scientists to see cells and their components and watch them change over time.  This ability to watch life as it happens has opened up many new avenues of research and led to a greater understanding of biological events.