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Ribosome Mapper Defied Doubters to Win Nobel
9 Oct
Summary
- Ada Yonath mapped ribosome structure, facing disbelief from peers.
- Her work enabled precision antibiotic drug development.
- She won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her breakthrough.
Biochemist Ada Yonath, who died aged 87, achieved a monumental scientific feat by mapping the molecular structure of the ribosome, despite facing widespread disbelief and ridicule early in her career. Ribosomes, the protein-synthesizing factories within all living cells, presented immense challenges due to their small size and irregular shape.
Yonath's inspiration reportedly came from observing how polar bears protect their ribosomes during hibernation. She hypothesized that crystallizing ribosomes from organisms in harsh environments would yield hardier structures, enabling X-ray analysis. After more than 25,000 attempts, she succeeded in crystallizing ribosomes from thermophilic bacteria in the mid-1980s.
Utilizing cryo bio-crystallography, a technique she pioneered, Yonath's team finally mapped the ribosome's three-dimensional structure in 2001 and 2002. This discovery was critical for medicine, allowing scientists to design antibiotics that specifically target bacterial ribosomes without harming human cells.
The Nobel Committee recognized her work in 2009, highlighting its fundamental and medically important aspects that led to novel antibiotic drug development in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. Yonath was born in Jerusalem and pursued her scientific education in Israel, earning a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
