RIP.
钱先生这一走，我最担心的是那个Prasher的饭碗了：
（Zt from WiKi）
Career[edit]
Prasher received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Ohio State University in
1979. From 1979 to 1983, he worked in genetics and biochemistry research at
the University of Georgia, where he identified the gene sequence for
aequorin [1] .[4] He then joined the Biology Department of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts where he studied
bioluminescence. In 1988, he received a two-year, $200,000 grant from the
American Cancer Society to clone the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP
), the protein that gives the jellyfish its glow. Prasher succeeded in this
project, and later shared his findings with Martin Chalfie and Roger Y.
Tsien after each scientist had communicated with him.[5][6] In subsequent
years, Prasher provided the clone to hundreds of scientists.[citation needed]
Reports that Prasher had difficulty in achieving fluorescence of GFP in
other species in recombinant studies [7] are inaccurate, as Prasher had
successfully worked with the Chalfie group to show recombinant expression in
the bacterium E. coli and the nematode C. elegans,[8] and later in the
plant Arabidopsis thaliana.[9] By the time Prasher's ACS funding ended, he
had isolated a partial, but almost complete gfp cDNA, with 965 bases out of
the 10,50 bases of the corresponding mRNA.[2] It would require construction
of another cDNA library during the following (non-funded) year for Prasher
to isolate a full-length cDNA clone, although it must be noted that this
partial cDNA clone was subsequently used and found to be sufficient for
successful heterologous expression in E. coli, C. elegans [8] and A.
thaliana.[9] By this time Prasher could not afford to devote limited
resources to expression studies in E. coli.[citation needed] It wasn't until
the Nobel Prize announcement that it became clear how unfortunate this had
been. Chalfie and Tsien went on to their successful expression studies. GFP
has subsequently found application as a biochemical tracer such as in
fluorescent studies of gene expression.
Prasher had applied to the National Institutes of Health for funding but had
been turned down, and by the time he was undergoing review for promotion
from assistant to untenured associate, he had decided to leave academia.[
citation needed] Subsequently, Prasher worked for the Animal & Plant Health
Inspection Service,[1] U.S. Department of Agriculture at its Otis Plant
Protection Center in Cape Cod, Massachusetts as a population geneticist, and
was later transferred to the Plant Germplasm Quarantine & Biotechnology
Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. After working conditions deteriorated at
the Beltsville location, he went to work for NASA subcontractor AZ
Technology in Huntsville, Alabama working on an existing project to develop
lab-on-a-chip devices to monitor cabin environment and to perform human
diagnostics during long-term spaceflight.[citation needed] However, he lost
his job after 1.5 years when NASA reorganized and canceled the project.[10][
11]
On 8 October 2008, the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Osamu
Shimomura, Chalfie, and Tsien for their work on GFP.[12] Prasher was not
included among the Nobel laureates, as only 3 individuals can share in a
single Nobel Prize. Chalfie said of Prasher's contribution:
"(Douglas Prasher's) work was critical and essential for the work we did in
our lab. They could've easily given the prize to Douglas and the other two
and left me out."[13]
Tsien also agreed that they couldn't have done it without Prasher and "Doug
Prasher had a very important role."[14]
In an October 9, 2008 phone interview with National Public Radio (NPR) and
October 14, 2008 TV interview with Inside Edition, Prasher reported that he
was unable to find a job in science, his life savings had run out and that
he was working as a courtesy shuttle bus driver for a Toyota dealership in
Huntsville, Alabama at $8.50 an hour.[6][11][13][14][15] In the NPR
broadcast, one of his former colleagues called Prasher's current situation a
"staggering waste of talent".[6] Prasher has stated his wish to resume a
career in science, but not particularly with jellyfish.[10] He has publicly
expressed his pleasure at learning of the awarding of the Nobel Prize to
Shimomura, Chalfie and Tsien:
"I'm really happy for them. I was really surprised that particular topic
carried that much weight."[10]
Chalfie and Tsien invited Prasher and his wife, Virginia Eckenrode, to
attend the Nobel Prize ceremony, as their guests and at their expense.[16]
All three of the 2008 Chemistry laureates thanked Prasher in their speeches.
[17]
In June 2010, Prasher was finally able to return to science, working for
Streamline Automation in Huntsville until December 2011, then from 2012 on,
in Roger Tsien's lab at the University of California in San Diego[18]
