Ohio University alumnus Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is one of three recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Ramakrishnan, who earned his Ph.D. from OU's graduate physics program in 1976, will split the $1.4 million prize with Thomas Steitz, a chemistry professor at Yale University, and Ada Yonath, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
The three were honored Wednesday for creating a map of the ribosome, a protein synthesizer found in cells - showing what it looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome, according to the prize announcement.
I have to say that I am deeply indebted to all of the brilliant associates
students and (post-doctoral researchers) who worked in my lab as science is a highly collaborative enterprise Ramakrishnan said in a statement.
The scientists' research could lead to more efficient and effective antibiotics, said Tad Malinski, chairman of OU's biochemistry department.
This research gives us very precise information about certain chemical reactions and changes in the ribosomes
Malinski said. With this information we can precisely and much more accurately design new prescription drugs.
Before studying at OU, Ramakrishnan earned his B.A. in Physics in 1971 from Baroda University in India.
Ramakrishnan currently works as a structural biologist at the Medical Research Council, a health research laboratory in Cambridge, England.
We are absolutely delighted that Dr. Ramakrishnan's work has been recognized
Leszek Borysiewicz, the council's chief executive said in a statement. The MRC is committed to long-term support of the difficult areas of basic science as exemplified by Venki's success. It is only on the back of such discoveries that we can continue to drive translation into benefits for human health.
OU's College of Arts and Sciences awarded Ramakrishnan the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2006, which he collected two years later when he returned to Athens to present a faculty colloquium about his ribosome research.
1
News
Wesley Lowery
29387a.jpg
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.
