Jacques Dubochet (Switzerland), Joachim Frank (US), Richard Henderson (UK) have all won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The trio scooped the prize for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.
The work that the trio carried out has allowed scientists to freeze biomolecules to look at their structures and the processes they are involved in.
The development of cryo-electron microscopy has been crucial for many areas of research, especially in looking at the Zika virus – which causes brain-damage in newborns.
Swedish television asked Joachim Frank to explain the usefulness of his technique, he said, “The practical use is immense…But it takes time for fundamental research to impact on medicine”.
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