Work involving electron cryomicroscopy earned researchers Jacques Dubochet (Swiss, born in 1942), Joachim Frank (German, born in 1940) and Richard Henderson (Scottish, born in 1945) this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, announced this Wednesday morning -Friday (4). Researchers have developed methods in this area that bring a revolution to biochemistry, by using cryogenic (very low) temperatures in their experiments to determine, in high resolution, the structures of biomolecules in aqueous solutions. These are effective methods for generating three-dimensional images of the molecules of life, according to the text on the official page of the Nobel Prize.
This was the third award of the 2017 Nobel season. Firstly, the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to the Americans Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young, on Monday (2); and then the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the German Rainer Weisso and the Americans Barry Barish and Kip Thorne, last Tuesday (3).
According to Fernando Galembeck, head professor at the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) at Unicamp, the chemistry prize will certainly bring valuable contributions to research in physics and medicine. “But it is still very difficult to gauge how far these investigations will go, in relation to the progress we have made so far. This is the first award in a series to come,” he believes.
Galembeck explained that the electron cryomicroscopy technique allows freezing and observing the movements of molecules in an aqueous medium, in addition to 'seeing' individual atoms, obtaining structures with resolution very close to the atomic scale (high resolution). “The images that the award winners presented show proteins and large molecules in which all the carbon, oxygen and nitrogen atoms can be seen”, she listed. “It is possible to observe the molecules at various times, which allows us to learn how these molecular nanomachines work. Its capacity is much greater than what has been done to date to study the structure of molecules – which is X-ray diffraction”, he said.
According to the professor, X-ray diffraction is so important that at least eight Nobel Prize winners have had work in this field. "As of 2010, cryomicroscopy took off, resulting in the first Nobel Prize in the area. Even Henderson himself, from the Cavendish Laboratory (University of Cambridge), one of the prize winners, wrote his thesis on this topic, a few decades ago ", he reported.
The professor recalled that this technique was used in the study of the Zika Virus, whose infectious agent was associated with recent cases of microcephaly in babies. At the beginning of the year, a publication highlighted discoveries related to the structure of the virus. "Until now, determining the structure of a virus could take years to come to fruition. Using cryomicroscopy, the structure of Zika was determined in months, representing a tremendous advance in analysis processes, which have been greatly simplified," revealed.
Galembeck said that Unicamp's IQ has high-resolution cryomicroscopy equipment on its premises, measuring 2 tenths of a nanometer, and is working towards acquiring new 1-nanometer equipment. He clarified that, to visualize structures, it is essential that the equipment has atomic resolution. However, for day-to-day laboratory applications, it is not necessary to have the best resolution but rather a good image. "Here at IQ we have a great analytical capacity and a tomograph to make the molecules rotate at different angles. Using these two resources together, we will arrive at very impressive results”, he highlighted.
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious distinction in the world scientific community. Every year, researchers are awarded prizes who have carried out investigations of inestimable value for the benefit of humanity in areas such as Chemistry, Medicine, Physics, Literature, Economy and Peace.
This award began with its founder, Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. The first award ceremony took place in 1901 at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm. At the moment, the ceremony takes place on the day of Alfred Nobel's death, December 10, in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden. The winner of the award generally receives a gold medal, a diploma of scientific merit and a sum of money.
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