By Enda Shevlin

It is often said that women have expensive tastes. But taste does not necessarily equate to means, forcing many cash-strapped young ladies to resort to wearing fake jewellery. It is often the case that women, when wearing fake or impure jewellery, break out in an itchy rash, known as contact sensitivity. The reason for this uncomfortable effect is that fake jewellery is often made from an inexpensive nickel core coated in an alluring gold or silver veneer. Nine times out of ten they are indistinguishable from the real thing, until the itching starts.

Tiny amounts of perspiration corrode the underlying nickel of the faux-gold and silver jewellery during wear, releasing salts or “ions” of the same which triggers an allergic response, resulting in an ugly rash.

In the end, all allergic reactions have a trigger as their source. In this case it is nickel, which in some way agitates the immune system, causing it to awaken and destroy the allergen as if it were a virus – even though in reality, allergens often pose no systemic threat to our health. Immunologists, who study the immune system at the level of atoms and molecules, have recently discovered exactly why a large portion of humans respond to the nickel allergen as if it were an infection, and have documented their findings in Nature Immunology.

Our immune cells use many different surface receptors to sense potential danger but among the most fundamental are the “Toll-like receptors” or TLRs, so called because the German scientists who discovered it, exclaimed “Toll!”, the German word for “great”. If one were to imagine our bodies being locked in a war against harmful microorganisms, our tissues and organs would be the battlefield, the immune cells would be our soldiers and TLRs would act as lookouts for invading enemy bacteria and viruses.

What has been discovered for the first time by Marc Schmidt and his colleagues in Germany is that one particular TLR, TLR4, which normally senses harmful bacteria, has the additional function of specifically recognising the same nickel contained in any fake jewellery, be it a pair of earrings, a bracelet or a watch.

Doing what it is supposed to do, upon activation by the nickel ion, the TLR directs an inflammatory immune response, producing the offending rash. The researchers narrowed the pathway down to the individual molecules that sense nickel and found that mice, which are not normally allergic to nickel, whose immune cells were engineered to express human TLR4 on their surfaces, would suddenly develop allergic responses.

This groundbreaking study into the causes of allergic responses is quite revolutionary. It opens up another avenue of thought about how the immune system recognises various allergens, an important step in figuring out how to reduce or eliminate their negative effects on humans. Researchers hope to repeat their success in future by isolating other allergens in a similar fashion.

But of immediate importance, now that the exact mechanism of sensitivity has been discovered, there is now a specific drug target for the future prevention of nickel based allergies: any drug that can block the TLR4-nickel interaction will also prevent, or at least significantly reduce, the symptoms of nickel allergy in humans.

Good news for anyone with a soft spot for shiny trinkets but a softer spot for a bargain.

By John Engle

The winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced at the beginning of this month, Dr Robert G. Edwards, “for the development of in vitro fertilisation.” Edwards joins an elite group of men and women who have distinguished themselves through discovery in the fields of physiology or medicine. Since the Prize’s inception in 1901, it has been awarded 100 times to 195 individuals.

Edwards’ achievement has had great and lasting effects on the world of science and medicine, and has served to revolutionise the fields of fertility and embryonic development. His recognition for his great contribution to medicine is richly deserved.

Human in vitro fertilisation, or IVF as it is often called, is a process by which human egg cells taken from a woman are fertilised externally by sperm cells, in a test tube. The sperm and egg interact in a controlled fluid medium. Once fertilisation is complete, the zygote, or fertilised egg, is transferred to the patient’s uterus. If the process works, a successful pregnancy will develop.

Edwards’ work on in vitro fertilisation began in 1960, while working at the University of Cambridge. He first succeeded in 1968 to achieve fertilisation of a human embryo in laboratory settings, a crucial step in the process. In collaboration with Dr Patrick Steptoe, Edwards was able to develop a method of successful external fertilisation and implantation. The first human product of Edwards and Steptoe’s new method, Louise Brown, was born in 1978. She was heralded as the first “test-tube baby.”

Edwards’ work has become a major tool in the arsenal of fertility specialists, and has come to serve as the last resort when other forms of assisted reproductive technology have failed. According to the Nobel Committee, over four million births have been the direct product of Edwards’ discovery. Less directly, Edwards’ research laid the groundwork for much of today’s embryonic development and stem cell studies.

The great success of Edwards’ work was not universally well received at the time of its development, and was the target of a great deal of political attack. The British government had refused funding to the project initially, and Edwards was criticised for trying to play God. Religious groups, including the Catholic Church, spoke out against in vitro fertilisation. The controversy has not entirely dissipated, nor have all people’s fears been assuaged over time, as has been made clear in the wake of the announcement of Edwards’ winning of the Nobel Prize.

Since the announcement, religious groups have once again found reason to speak out against the process and Edwards’ work. On 4 October the Vatican condemned the Edwards’ award as “completely out of order.” Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, the Vatican’s bioethics spokesman, cited as the reason for its objection the destruction of many excess embryos during the in vitro fertilisation process.

However, while some naysayers may yet remain, the process of in vitro fertilisation has changed millions of lives, and allowed countless people become parents. It seems unquestionable that Robert Edwards’ contributions to medicine, and to society, is receiving just recognition.

By Adam Seline

Warfare in the 21st century has become progressively more automated, placing ever-greater emphasis on computers and robots. The skies are no longer filled with expensive jet fighters, such as the American F-22, but instead with near-silent predator drones, unmanned planes that are far less expensive to manufacture, as well as considerably more expendable.

Unmanned craft have become very popular in military circles, as technological developments in recent years have made them viable in ever more diverse fields of operation. Longer battery life, greater resilience, and more reliable computer interface, as well as budding progress in the realm of artificial intelligence, make such tools very desirable for use in hostile climes where human personnel would be in mortal danger. Scientists have developed increasingly varied uses for these robotic operatives, creating more and more advanced and adaptable machines that can react with ever greater semblances of intelligence.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have taken a step into what may well be the future of espionage, having developed a robot that can actually deceive its adversaries, according to their study, published in the International Journal of Social Robotics. This marks a new step in the development of artificial intelligence programmes, with robots now able to exercise greater freedom due to sophisticated algorithmic programming.

By use of interdependence theory and game theory, Dr Ronald Arkin, the lead researcher on the project, developed algorithms to teach a robot how to recognise scenarios warranting the use of deception tactics. Georgia Tech’s robot is designed to deceive enemy soldiers by creating false trails and hiding so as to evade capture.

The robot was also taught how to distinguish between differing scenarios, and to employ different strategies. During trials, a “hider” robot, programmed with the deception algorithm, had to hide from a programmed “seeker” robot. Through deceptive tactics the “hider” was able to evade the “seeker” in 75 percent of trials.

While Arkin’s research team expect their research to be useful in both the military and civilian spheres, they can see the moral dilemma that robots capable of deception might pose to some people wary of negative consequences.

If Hollywood has taught people nothing else, it is to fear machines that become dangerously clever. Despite the potential ethical conflicts, Georgia Tech’s research offers a new avenue for research and its advances will hopefully serve as a harbinger of a brighter future in the field of robotics.

By John Engle

Star Trek fantasy becomes reality

As if right out of a science fiction story, researchers at the Australian National University, using a sophisticated laser beam, have succeeded in moving particles over large distances, in what may be the first step toward developing a functional tractor beam. While not fit for use in space at present, the technology may yet find an application. According to one of the researchers, for instance, the laser could be used in “directing and clustering nano-particles in air, the micromanipulation of objects, sampling of atmospheric aerosols, and low contamination, non-touch handling of sampling materials.” The beam “could be used for the transport of dangerous substances and microbes, in small amounts.” The possibilities seem nearly endless for this futuristic tech.

From Dehli Belly to new fuel source

Researchers at Rutgers University-Camden are in the midst of an endeavour to genetically modify E. coli bacteria to produce bio-fuel. They aim to develop a source of fuel that is not as energy inefficient as existing fuels, such as those derived from corn. For this project the researchers are breaking from the more traditional method of effecting change through small genomic alterations. Instead they have been making major modifications across large sections, including the insertion of entirely new traits, in what is called synthetic biology.

Amateur stargazers win the day

Professional astronomers have doffed their caps to amateur astronomy enthusiasts who were the first to identify the unusual stellar bodies known as “green pea” galaxies. Astronomy fans, volunteering with the online organisation Galaxy Zoo to sort through a multitude of images of outer space, uncovered the tremendously compact star cities, filled with low amounts of complex elements due to dilution by streams of gas and the cosmic winds of supernovae. The success of Galaxy Zoo has helped move scientific endeavour from a monopoly of the ivory towers of academia, and into a popular realm in which all interested people may participate and contribute.

Distinguished Trinity Science alumnus, Dr Patrick Brennan, is to be rewarded in November for his major contributions to research on tuberculosis and leprosy. John Engle reports

Dr Patrick Brennan is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology at Colorado State University. His research into mycobacteria, particularly those that cause tuberculosis and leprosy, represents some of the seminal work on the subject in recent decades.

Dr Brennan completed his PhD at Trinity, studying under the distinguished Dr Frank Winder. Since then, he has become one of the preeminent voices in his field, being appointed to the prestigious American Academy of Microbiology in 2004.

This November, Dr Brennan will be recognised at the Trinity College Alumni Awards for his contribution to scientific progress and research. Dr Brennan spoke to us from his home in America:

How did you get involved in your field of research, dealing with mycobacterium pathologies?
I did my undergraduate work in University College Cork, and then came up to Dublin in the sixties to do my PhD at Trinity. My PhD director was Frank Winder, who died quite recently, and I worked with him on developing a new drug for treating TB, focusing on Mode of Action [the specific biochemical interaction through which a drug substance produces its pharmacological effect]. We worked on isoniazid, a drug still commonly used today to treat TB, and put focus on exactly how and why the drug worked.

Where did you go after Trinity?
After Trinity, I went to Berkeley, California, where I worked under Clint Lowe and did more work on TB. At Berkeley I did research on the structure of the bacterium that causes TB. It was a profound experience. I met my wife there also. She was studying at Berkeley. After that we came back to Trinity where I again worked with Frank. Did you stay long in Ireland? I worked at Trinity and at UCD. We had our kids there. But my wife was American and eventually wanted to go back to America, so we went back to the US in 1976.

You have worked on leprosy treatment as well as TB. How did you get involved in that?
I obtained a contract with Novartis, a drug company, to work on Clofazimine, a drug that had been developed by another Trinity scientist, Vincent Barry. It was originally called B663 and was meant to be an anti-tuberculosis drug, but proved ineffective. It did, however, turn out to be very effective in treating leprosy. I again worked on determining the Mode of Action.

Are you working on any research presently?
Currently I am working on the problem of drug-resistant strains of TB which have been popping up. The worst strains developed in Russian prisons and cannot be treated by any of the current drugs. These are called XDRTB, extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis. We are now doing molecular epidemiology, and are trying to apply basic biochemistry of the organism to find new targets for drugs to exploit. We are trying to understand how the organism works, particularly its cell wall. We focus on essential targets, the enzymes that are essential to the growth of the organism.

Have you done much work on leprosy recently?
Yes, we are currently working with the genome of the leprosy organism and its genetic coding ability. So far we have found that it has only a 50 percent coding capacity, or in other words, 50 percent of its genetic code is useless. There is also the problem of actually growing leprosy cultures in the lab. It is virtually impossible to grow except in the bodies of laboratory armadillos, which are virtually immune to the bacteria. Currently we are looking for what material could be potentially added to the genome in order to more easily grow it. We are also working in multiple endemic sites, taking biopsies and following to trace the spread of the disease.

Looking back, do you have many memories of Trinity student life from your time in College?
I was quite active with the Harriers and set the record for the Trinity Walk. They don’t do that anymore do they? It was a race from Belfast to Dublin during Trinity Week that was more an event than a race. People would stop at the pubs every couple miles along the way. The record had been up to that time about 36 hours, but in 1964 I made it in just over 24. I recall Trinity News did an article on me, describing me as a “smallish man with muscular legs”. The prize at that time was a barrel of Guinness. I won it again in 1965 with a time of 22 hours, ten minutes. I believe that record holds still today. I know they cancelled the walk due to the Troubles, and they must never have started it up again.

We have gotten used to using satellite navigation in our daily, from helping us find our way to the store to docking ships.  It has become such a heavily used item that it would seem the akinks in the system have been all worked out.  However, there is one thing that can have a damaging effect on our sat-nav systems that has gained more attention among astronomers lately: the fact that the Sun has passed its solar minimum and is moving back toward its solar maximum.
The Sun goes through what is called a solar cycle on average every eleven years, with swings between high and low activity.  These active periods occur when a high number of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are emitted from the Sun. These solar flares send out huge bursts of magnetic energy into the surrounding space and some of them are sent in Earth’s direction.  These high energy particles can affect the satellites that are involved with the sat-nav’s systems. 
There are a large number of satellites circling the Earth.  The way the satellites create accurate information for the sat-nav programs is through relatively simple geometry.  Satellites send information back to Earth through a radio signal that holds two essential pieces of accurate information.  One piece is where exactly that specific satellite is, and the other piece is the exact time.  This allows the sat-nav to receives this information from whichever satellites it happens to be in alignment with at the time, and since there is a whole fleet of them, military and civilian, there is enough to work out exactly where it is through a simple triangulation calculation.  Once the sat-nav collects this information it can determine its position bases on how far it is away from the satellites combined with how long it took the signals to arrive.
The problem arises when the radiation coming from the Sun’s CMEs interferes with these signals and makes it much more difficult for the sat-nav  to find the weak signal that the satellites send to Earth.
The only way we have to counter this at the moment and for the foreseeable future is the use of complex directional antennae, which are expensive and at the moment used almost solely for military applications. It is still incredibly difficult to obtain such equipment for commercial industry due to heavy regulations set by the military.  Even if this information was released to non-military users in the US and selected allies, due to export controls on the actual products it would be near impossible to get this information to a number of companies that might fall out of the specific boundaries of the requirements listed by the US government.
Another problem arises when the signal that is sent has to travel through the ionosphere, the outer atmosphere of the Earth.  The ionosphere is mostly made up of a collection of particles that have been ionised, or been ripped apart by the Sun’s activity.  The more active the Sun, the more radiation enters the ionosphere and the greater the potential for interference with sat-nav.
This can have a negative effect because the technology assumes that the signal that has been sent by the satellite has been sent at a constant speed and continues to travel at a constant speed, but that is not automatically true, since the greater the interference from the Sun through increased activity the more slowly the signal may pass through the ionosphere, resulting in greater distortion of the speed of the information being transmitted to Earth, adding error to the system’s calculations.
There are other factors that can interfere with information in similar ways, but the sun’s cycle has a more powerful and longer lasting impact.  The reason why scientists have not had to consider it before is because the last time we had a solar maximum the technology had not reached a point where it was so precise, nor was it so essential to our lives.  In this Information Age disruptions of communication can be devastating and we must be ready for trouble.

Creationists all around the world, be on your guard! Richard Dawkins’ latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth, is a collection of powerful evidence for the theory of evolution, making the information regarding natural selection accessible to non-scientists everywhere.
Perhaps best known as the author of The God Delusion, Dawkins is the past holder of the Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. Although he is a famous champion of atheist ideals and fierce defender of science and reason against mysticism, in his latest book, published in September 2009, all attacks against religion are put aside. As Dawkins himself told an Irish audience at the reading he gave at the RDS last September, the book serves as an explanation of the multiple lines of evidence for evolution, which are all around us. The evidence brought forward is so simple and yet incontrovertible that it should make any proponent of “Intelligent Design” shake in his boots.
In the first chapter, we are asked to imagine we are teachers of recent history. How would we feel if Holocaust-deniers were constantly disrupting our classes, demanding that equal amounts of time should be spent teaching the “alternative” theory? Such people do indeed exist. Such a world in which people so detached from reality are given a public, state-funded platform seems ludicrous, yet the same frustration ordinary people feel at such deniers is shared by many science teachers around the world, particularly in the United States.
Evolution is in general given very little time, under the relativist claim that there is no absolute truth, and sometimes the very word is expunged from state-approved textbooks. Here is a very disturbing figure: according to an opinion poll taken in 2008 by Gallup, an American polling organisation, more than 40% of Americans deny evolution. Since ill-informed opposition to evolution is so powerful at present, there was never a more opportune time for “Darwin’s Rottweiler”, as Richard Dawkins is often called, to write such an accessible book.
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace are the two figures that laid the foundations for modern evolutionary thinking. Darwin, in The Origin of Species, as well as suggesting a mechanism for evolution, wanted to show that biological evolution was a fact. But be careful, Dawkins warns! When addressing the task of trying to prove the theory of evolution, it is important to remember that a proof, in the strictly mathematical sense of the word, cannot be formulated with regard to biological processes. It is not possible to prove evolution in the same way as it is possible to prove that ?2 is irrational. Nevertheless, evolution is a fact, in the same way the theory that green plants obtain energy from the sun is a fact. Of course, not only has the theory of evolution not been disproved, but it is supported by massive quantities of evidence.
If you are not convinced, consider the quirks and imperfections present in all modern organisms. As Dawkins skilfully explains, these make no sense, unless they represent holdovers from an otherwise evolved ancestral state. For example, humans have big maxillary sinuses, or cavities, behind the cheeks on either side of the face. These have a drainage hole on their top, thus failing to efficiently use gravity to assist drainage of fluid. This can be explained as a consequence of the shift from quadruped to biped locomotion, since, in a quadruped, the “top” is actually the front, and the position of the drainage holes makes much more sense.  Thus, the evidence points to us humans as products of evolution. Our evolutionary legacy is written all over us.
Several chapters of the book are dedicated to outlining the evidence that comes from fossils, in particular transitional stages of major evolutionary changes. In fact, accepting evolution as true allows us to explain why any given fauna in Earth’s history was an intermediate, in general character, between the fauna of the immediately preceding (older) and immediately succeeding (younger) period.
There are, of course, gaps in the fossil record and Creationists often latch on to these in the vain attempt to discredit the theory of evolution.  Memorable is the passage where Dawkins responds to those Creationists who are often heard shouting “Show me a fronkey (intermediate between frog and monkey); show me a crocoduck (intermediate between crocodile and duck)!”  Dawkins suggests sarcastically that creationists should not limit themselves to mammals, but also talk of a kangaroach (intermediate between kangaroo and cockroach) or an octopard (intermediate between octopus and leopard). The fact is that every species shares an ancestor with every other one, so it’s clearly possible to find fossils that approximate a common ancestor of a frog and monkey. In fact, scientists have revealed numerous elegant examples of sequences of intermediate forms.
Even if the concept of evolution is not clear to you or if it is limited to those teenage schooldays when you learned, with some surprise, that humans and great apes are more related that you thought, this book provides an excellent introduction to many areas of science and is accessible from any level of prior knowledge. There are no boring paragraphs to be read.
The last pages leave the reader with the truly moving message that evolution is within us, around us, between us, and its workings are imbedded in the rocks of aeons past.  Verily, we are the children of natural selection.

This month the research journal Science published evidence produced by a Japanese research group that indicates a possible mechanism as to how the infamous drug thalidomide deformed a generation of babies.
If ever there was an argument for the dysteleological theory of “bad design”, or perhaps better worded “unintelligent design”, thalidomide would be it. No doubt the mothers of the thalidomide babies would have asked themselves where the intelligence lies in designing an antiemetic (used to treat morning sickness) painkilling drug, that coincidentally and horribly, deforms your child, or kills it. The original packaging supplied with pharmaceutical thalidomide included the following statement: “In pregnancy and during the lactation period the female organism is under great strain. Sleeplessness, unrest and tension are constant complaints. The administration of a sedative and a hypnotic that will hurt neither mother nor child is often necessary.”
The patent owner of the “unintelligently designed” thalidomide was a German pharmaceutical company, named Chemie Grünenthal. Chemie Grünenthal began as part of a soaps, cosmetics and toiletries business. Today the company produces painkillers, now for both female and male organisms. Profit for 2008 was estimated by the company to be just short of €1 billion.
In the late 50s and 60s thalidomide was prescribed as a potent painkiller and tranquiliser. However, it was through its widespread use to treat morning sickness of pregnant women that thalidomide really demonstrated its devastating capacity as a teratogenic agent, one causing developmental defects.
An estimated 10,000 unborn babies were poisoned by thalidomide, with many dying, and others left with birth defects such as the trademark absence of the long bones of the legs, known as phocomelia (from the greek for “seal limbs”), or of the arms, amelia.
According to the website for the Irish Thalidomide Association, a group battling for proper compensation for sufferers, there are still 32 survivors of the thalidomide tragedy living in Ireland today, as well as another 18 in Northern Ireland.
Whilst these people clearly cannot now benefit from research into the effects of thalidomide, there is nevertheless a large body of research being conducted across the globe to try to understand how thalidomide, and similar substances, mediate their therapeutic as well as their pathogenic effects so that no such horrifying event can ever be repeated.
Today thalidomide is still prescribed to cancer patients with multiple myeloma, and also to sufferers of leprosy. These patients are strongly advised to undertake birth control measures, and clearly, the severity of these diseases warrants the use of thalidomide, particularly in the absence of any reasonable alternative therapy.
Furthemore, as the research on thalidomide is piling up, it is being realised that it may be a potent treatment for other diseases such as a range of cancers as well as inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease and Behçet’s disease.
This month a research group from the Tokyo Institute of Technology led by Hiroshi Handa report that they believe they have found the mechanism as to how thalidomide causes developmental defects.
By conjugating beads to thalidomide derivatives and exposing those beads to cellular proteins Handa’s group were able to identify two protein binding partners for thalidomide, cereblon (CRBN) and DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1). They discovered that thalidomide directly binds CRBN which is itself bound to the DDB1, and that this interaction inhibits the activity of a growth factor called fgf8. This is the first such linkage between thalidomide and this growth factor pathway.
The researchers backed up their findings with a zebrafish model of the disease. Zebrafish are commonly used to study embryonic development. When Handa’s group put zebrafish embryos into thalidomide containing medium they did not develop normal pectoral fins. They also discovered that proper growth and development of zebrafish otic vesicles and pectoral fins is dependent on the zebrafish gene equivalent of CRBN.
This groundbreaking research may allow the development of thalidomide derivative drugs that will be potent treatments for a range of diseases, but without the teratogenic risk to unborn children. Simply put, a lot of sick people could one day benefit from an earthly ‘intelligent redesign’ of the infamous thalidomide.
But convincing anybody who can remember the disaster of the 50s that a thalidomide related drug is safe, might be as difficult as convincing an evolutionary biologist of intelligent design.

The Semiconductor Photonics Group, led by Dr. John Donegan, is based in the School of Physics in Trinity. The group has laboratory space in the SNIAM and CRANN buildings. Photonics is the subject of the generation and the use of light. It is a relatively new field of research and is set to become a key technology for the 21st Century. It combines the power of laser light, optical fibers and waveguide structures and is set to revolutionise optical telecommunications and nanotechnology.
At Trinity the Group is carrying out research into the concepts that underpin photonics, the materials of the future and it has a strong focus on developing novel applications in photonics, having patented many key ideas. It focuses on the following:

Nanophotonics

This is the interaction of quantum dot emitters and other nanoscale materials and the interaction of the emitters with microcavity resonators. This work will enable the construction of the smallest possible lasers on the size of a grain of salt with the ability to form lasers made specifically for their applications including analysis of human cells.
This work is carried out in the CRANN research institute and they have links with research groups in France and Germany.

Optical Communications

Diode laser are key components in communications and in spectroscopy applications. The Group is working on vernier-tunable semiconductor lasers with its patented stabilised Fabry Perot structure.
All of this work is geared to increasing the data carrying potential for optical fibre networks. This work will spur on the development of video-on-demand services over the internet.

The controversial awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to first-term US president Barack Obama has served to largely overshadow this year’s other Nobel laureates.  Regardless of the questionable choice for the peace distinction, the awardees in the fields of physics, chemistry, and medicine have demonstrated great merit in their respective fields, having made discoveries well worthy of Nobel recognition.
The prize in physics was split between two outstanding research projects.  The first was given to Charles K. Kao “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication.”  Dr. Kao’s 1966 work in the field of fiber optic technology has led to many practical innovations today.  The global communications networks wholly dependent upon fiber optics for information transmission, such as the Internet, were made possible by Dr. Kao’s calculations.
The other recipients of the physics prize are Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Laboratories for their groundbreaking work in digital imaging technology.  In 1969 they were the first researchers to develop a successful imaging technology using a charge-coupled device (CCD) as a digital sensor, resulting in the development of the first digital camera.
The prize in chemistry was given to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath.  Using the innovative method of X-ray crystallography to map the entire atomic structure of the ribosome, these researchers have succeeded in vastly increasing the scientific community’s understanding of the structure and function of the crucial organelle.  The ribosome is the “protein factory” in every cell, making individual protein from instructions in DNA, and thus controls the internal chemistry of organisms.  The crystallographic map of the ribosome allows the researchers to assess how various new antibiotics bind with the ribosome, which has proven very helpful in the development of new antibiotic treatments.
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak are the recipients of this year’s prize in the field of medicine.  The awarded scientists have discovered how chromosomes are copied during cell division without any degradation.  They have found that the answer lies with the telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes, and telomerase, the enzyme that forms them.  The lengthy investigation, spanning a period from 1980 to 1984, involved two key stages of research.  First, Dr. Blackburn and Dr. Szostak discovered that it is a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres that protects the chromosome from degradation.  Next, Dr. Blackburn and Dr. Greider recognized the enzyme that makes these unique sequences, telomerase.
The research of all these scientists have contributed greatly to the furtherance of human knowledge and development.  From breakthroughs in communications to atomic mapping, these scientists are well deserving of Nobel recognition.