The 2010 American Crystallographic Association (ACA) meeting in Chicago has been able to bring together the co-recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry namely Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath.
The ACA reports that Venkatraman Ramakrishnan will be giving a plenary lecture on Saturday (7/24/2010) and Thomas Steitz will be giving a plenary lecture on Wednesday (7/28/2010). Ada Yonath will be speaking Wednesday morning on Macromolecules, Complexes & Assemblies.
00:00 Introduction
04:40 Light
09:35 Theory of interaction with light
14:42 Great analogy between checkers and nature
20:20 Explains the theory
23:15 ‘I enjoyed your lecture, but didn’t understand it’
26:15 ‘Nobody understands it’
33:13 Possible meaning
34:45 Describes theory
40:48 Reflection
47:50 Science is based on probabilities
57:10 Answer to the reflection Problem
68:10 Questions
The lecture makes me wonder about the relationship between protein crystal size and the probability of photons being diffracted. I am starting to get uneasy about how much is explained away due to crystal packing.
We have discussed the controversy regarding the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry that was given for the structure and function of the ribosome. I was also thinking about what a great accomplishment it was and how we could pay tribute.
Here is the idea: Get together 200 of our closest friends of which many of whom would need to wear spandex and short shorts. We would make it a dance tribute and have people attach a balloon to their head for identification. We would then act out the function of the ribosome to music from the 1970s, you know – flute solos and a lot of cow bell.
—
Well, I just found out from Molecule of the Day that this idea has already been done, dang – scooped again. Enjoy.
Unless you have been living in a box, you have heard that the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded for studies relating to the structure and function of the ribosome.
The winners: Ada Yonath, Thomas (Tom) Steitz and Venkatraman (Vanki) Ramakrishnan
The Nobel Prize allows for a maximum of three laureates, but did the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences get it right?
If you have not heard of Harry Noller, he was the first to propose that the ribosome is comprised of RNA. In addition to decades of devoted research, he also published extensively on the topic.
As reported by the NewsDaily.com:
Dr. Jeremy Berg, director of the NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, stated that “One of the reasons people have been unsure of the ribosome structure as a Nobel prize is that getting down to three people is tricky. Harry Noller of the University of California Santa Cruz has been one of the real leaders of sorting out the biochemistry of the ribosome for a long time.”
Professor Dana Carroll, who hired winner Venkatraman at the Univeristy of Utah was reported to believe that Harry Noller… should share a piece of the honor for his work in ribosome function.
The response across twitter was heartfelt:
The facebook page containing nearly 100 members dedicated to Harry’s Nobel Prize run was devastated.
Harry has been humble saying, “I’ve gotten more recognition than I deserve.”
I have started a new poll (to the right), feel free to give it a click.
What do you think? Is Harry the Rosalind Franklin of the 21st century?
