United States based Indian scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, today won the 2009 Nobel prize for Chemistry for his groundbreaking work on ribosomes that help in the development of antibiotics.
The 57-year-old, originally from the town of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, shares the Chemistry Nobel prize of $1.4 million award with Thomas Steitz of the US and Ada Yonath of Israel.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honoured the scientists for their research in proving how different antibiotics bind to ribosomes. The trio used X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.
"These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the academy said in its citation.
"An understanding of the ribosome's innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes," the Nobel committee said.
"Ribosomes produce proteins, which in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics," the Nobel committee said in a statement.
A delighted, but humble, Ramakrishnan said "I think it's a great honour and surprise. I am very happy. I have to say that I am deeply indebted to all of the brilliant associates, students and post docs who worked in my lab as science is a highly collaborative enterprise.
"I think it's a mistake to define good work by awards. This is a typical mistake that the public or even the press make. None of you called me about my work even two days ago . . . right? I think people have to do what interests (them) and then pursue it . . . that's the way to do important work. Whether prizes come your way or not, it's really not so important.”
Ramakrishnan graduated in Physics from Baroda University in 1971 and then got his PH.D from Ohio University in the Us in 1976. He has been working with various projects at the Cambridge University since the past 15 years and has been researching ribosome structures ever since.
