The silent life of a person who deserves a Nobel Prize

When the list of recipients of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced, the doctor who once made a big contribution to the award-winning work was sitting on a multipurpose vehicle, his living tool.

In the next few months, Dr. Roger Y. Tsien and Dr. Martin Chalfie will go to Stockholm to receive the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and a reward of 450,000 USD because they have found a technique to help scientists monitor all of living cells.

Meanwhile, the one who provided the most important thing in the work of two doctors - the genetic data that produced fluorescent fluorescent proteins in jellyfish bodies - gave up science because of the irony. destiny.

Douglas C. Prasher - who studied Aequorea victoria while working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (Massachusetts, USA) in the early 1990s - was driving a utility vehicle for a car rental company in the city Huntsville, Alabama, received a fee of 10 USD / hour.

The 57-year-old driver said he did not feel bitter or jealous of colleagues who won this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry. They include Dr. Roger Y. Tsien of the University of California, Dr. Martin Chalfie of Columbia University and Osamu Shimomura, emeritus professor of Boston Medical University. Osamu was the first to discover the glowing protein in jellyfish in 1961.

Dr. Douglas C. Prasher and the multipurpose vehicle of Bill Penney Toyota, his means of earning a living, in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.Photo: nytimes.com.

A doctor of biochemistry, Dr. Prasher is interested in explaining the glowing mechanism of some animals from a chemical perspective. In the last years of the 1980s, he asked the US National Institutes of Health to fund a research project on gene production of luminescent proteins for 5 years. In the application, he predicted that the luminescent protein could be used to illuminate structures inside cells.

"I know that glowing proteins can revolutionize the monitoring of micro-world activities. Now that's proven," Prasher said.

However, Prasher's proposal was rejected. He continued to submit applications to the American Cancer Society. They agreed, but only funded him for two years, only enough time for Prasher to isolate genes that produce luminescent proteins, not to find any applications.

At that time, Dr. Prasher felt bored at work at Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory and decided to find a new job. Then Roger Y. Tsien and Martin Chalfie found him to ask about the jellyfish's protein-producing gene. He generously shared the research results with both of them.

After that, Dr. Prasher worked for the US Department of Agriculture. He is responsible for researching measures to identify harmful insects. Again he did not feel satisfied with the job and often fell into a state of depression.

"I don't like my leadership, so I look for another job," he said.

Prasher moved to Huntsville, Alabama to work for a division of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA). His department is responsible for building small chemical laboratories to study the health status of live animals on Mars. Prasher loved this job, but then NASA decided to stop pouring money for the project and he lost his job. For family reasons, he remained in Huntsville and this reduced his chances of finding new jobs.

Depression returned. After a year of unemployment, PhD biochemist applied for a multi-purpose drive for Bill Penney Toyota, a car rental company. So far he has been doing this job for a year and a half.

When the names of the 2008 Nobel Prize winners were announced on October 8, several newspapers and TV channels mentioned Prasher. A person in Chicago called his home to verify the information and they talked for a long time.

As a rule, each Nobel Prize is awarded to a maximum of 3 people. Many people believe that this regulation makes the effort of many scientists not recognized and Prasher is a case. However, the biochemist said that, if included in the list of Nobel Prize in chemistry, he would feel uncomfortable.

"There are a lot of learners who deserve more Nobel prizes than I have. They have done their best and spent their lives in science, and I have not," he said.