Press Release - Clontech Laboratories, Inc. Recognizes the 2008 Winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
October 14th, 2008
Mountain View, CA, October 14 /PRNewswire/ – Clontech Laboratories, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., applauds the three winners of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Drs. Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien, for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a wide array of related fluorescent proteins. The application of fluorescent proteins as a research tool has revolutionized life science research and biotechnology: they enable researchers to monitor cellular activity in real time, characterize gene expression, and localize specific proteins, organelles, or cells of interest. Thus, fluorescent proteins have facilitated many groundbreaking discoveries in cell biology over the past decade.
“As a long-standing leader in the fluorescent protein field, Clontech is proud to have been the first company to commercialize the GFP technology that was developed by Dr. Chalfie and Dr. Douglas Prasher, enabling GFP to be used as a tool for cell biology research. Currently, we offer many fluorescent proteins that build upon the work of these three exceptional scientists, including the Fruit Fluorescent Proteins developed by Dr. Tsien” said Carol Lou, General Manager of Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
GFP was initially discovered and characterized by Dr. Shimomura of Boston University and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, who isolated it from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria and discovered that it glowed bright green under ultraviolet light. Dr. Chalfie of Columbia University applied GFP to biological research, using it as a visual genetic tag to study biological phenomena in the bacterium Escherichia coli and the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Dr. Roger Y. Tsien, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator of the University of California, San Diego, furthered our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces and has engineered many fluorescent proteins, spanning a wide spectrum of colors not found in nature. The use of these different colored variants has enabled scientists to follow several different biological processes at the same time.
About Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
Clontech Laboratories, Inc. develops, produces, and markets leading-edge biological products to the life science market worldwide. Clontech has approximately 2,000 products that enable life science researchers to study genes, their products, and their cellular function through the use of innovative and powerful tools for gene cloning, labeling, and expression; as well as for elucidating protein:protein interactions; isolating and purifying DNA and proteins; and conducting a wide variety of PCR experiments. Clontech is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc. For more information visit www.clontech.com
About Takara Bio Inc.
Takara Bio Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company based in Shiga, Japan. As a world leader in biotechnology research and development, Takara Bio was the first company to market PCR technology in Japan and is also the developer of the RetroNectin® reagent, which is a world-standard in gene therapy protocols. In addition to providing research reagents and equipment to the life science research market, Takara Bio has active research and product development activities in the fields of gene and cell-based therapy, and agricultural biotechnology; and is committed to preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology. Through strategic alliances with other industry leaders, the Company aims to extend its reach around the world. More information is available at http://www.takara-bio.com
Contact Information
Andrew Farmer, Ph.D.
Director, Business Development
Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
1290 Terra Bella Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043