The 2017 Nobel prize for Chemistry was awarded to a team of scientists who pioneered cryo-electron microscopy. The discovery allows for biomolecules to be frozen in their natural state and for the generation of high resolution three-dimensional images.
The visualization of biomolecules in their natural state is key to the understanding of life’s chemical structures and to developing pharmaceutical drugs. The cryo-electron microscope was instrumental in observing the shape of the Zika virus.
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