Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for imaging molecules

The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank & Richard Henderson for imaging biological molecules.

They developed a technique called cryo-electron microscopy, which simplifies the process for looking at the building blocks of biology, BBC News reports.

The winners join a prestigious list of 175 other Chemistry laureates recognised since 1901.

They were named at a press conference in Sweden.

The process makes it possible for biomolecules to be frozen very fast, allowing their natural shape to be preserved.

Speaking to journalists over a telephone line, Prof Frank said the practical uses for the technique were "immense".

Joachim Frank, from Germany, made the technology more easy to apply in a general setting by processing images of the molecules in such a way that fuzzy two-dimensional images were turned into sharp, 3-D structures.

Swiss-born Jacques Dubochet managed to cool water so rapidly that it solidified around a biological sample.

Scot Richard Henderson then succeeded in presenting the structure of a bacterial molecule at atomic resolution.