Osamu Shimomura

Marine Biological Laboratory / Woods Hole

Osamu Shimomura was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who first isolated and characterized green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria in 1962. Working with the luminescent jellyfish, Shimomura identified the blue photoproteins aequorin and the secondary emitter GFP, and characterized the absorption and emission properties of GFP in detail. He later determined the molecular structure of the GFP chromophore, revealing the unusual mechanism by which a tripeptide within the protein spontaneously cyclizes and oxidizes to form a fluorescent moiety. This characterization laid the groundwork for Martin Chalfie's demonstration that GFP could serve as a genetic reporter and for Roger Tsien's engineering of the GFP color palette. Shimomura shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. GFP and its derivatives are among the most widely used tools in biology, enabling real-time imaging of gene expression, protein localization, and cell dynamics in living systems. Shimomura passed away in 2018.