Professor
Roger Yonchien Tsien
(
–
)
1952
2016
University of California, San Diego
;
San Diego, CA
Area
Biological Sciences
Specialty
Neurosciences
Elected
1998
Dr. Roger Yonchien Tsien is Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, as well as of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD, where he is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Tsien is renowned for revolutionizing the fields of cell biology and neurobiology by allowing scientists to peer inside living cells and watch the behavior of molecules in real time. The multicolored fluorescent proteins developed in Tsien's lab are used by scientists to track where and when certain genes are expressed in cells or in whole organisms. In 2008, Tsien shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie for "the green fluorescent protein: discovery, expression and development." Tsien is also a key pioneer of calcium imaging and is well-known for developing various dyes that change color in the presence of particular ions such as calcium. One such dye, Fura-2, is widely used to track the movement of calcium within cells. According to experimental results from Tsien's group using a mouse model, cancer surgery can be guided and assisted by fluorescent peptides. The peptides are used as probes, and are harmless to living tissues and organs. Tsien is also a notable biochemical inventor and holds or co-holds about 100 patents. In 1997, he co-founded the Aurora Biosciences Corporation, now part of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Similarly, Tsien was also a scientific co-founder of Senomyx in 1999. He has received numerous awards, including the Max Delbruck Medal, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in the Basic Medical Sciences, and the E. B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology. In 2012 Tsien received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK.
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