Roger Tsien

Roger Y. Tsien (1952–2016) was a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and of pharmacology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, where he joined the faculty in 1989 and served for 27 years until his passing. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology-Anatomy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1982 to 1989. Tsien earned his A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1972 and his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Cambridge in 1977, followed by a research fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, until 1981. He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator from 1989 and received support as a Searle Scholar from 1983 to 1986.

Tsien's primary research area was chemical biology, with a focus on designing and synthesizing small molecules and genetically encoded macromolecules to probe and manipulate biochemical signals in living cells. His groundbreaking work included developing fluorescent indicators for ions like Ca²⁺, Na⁺, and pH, and engineering variants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) into a spectrum of colors for multicolor imaging of cellular processes. For these achievements, he shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie. Other major awards include the Gairdner Foundation International Award (1995), Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics (2002), Wolf Prize in Medicine, Keio Medical Science Prize, American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention (2002), and election to the National Academy of Sciences (1998). Key publications encompass “New calcium indicators and buffers with high selectivity against magnesium and protons: design, synthesis, and properties of prototype structures” (Biochemistry, 1980), “A new generation of Ca²⁺ indicators with greatly improved fluorescence properties” (J. Biol. Chem., 1985), “Fluorescent indicators for cytosolic calcium based on rhodamine and fluorescein chromophores” (J. Biol. Chem., 1989), and “A Monomeric Red Fluorescent Protein” (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2002). Tsien's innovations have revolutionized biological imaging, enabling real-time visualization of protein interactions, neuronal activity, and disease processes, with applications in neuroscience, cancer research, and surgery.

Professional Email: rtsien@ucsd.edu