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Roger Y. Tsien. Photo by Prolineserver(talk) on

Top 10 Facts about Roger Y. Tsien

Tsien was born on February 1, 1952. He was a biochemist equipped with excellent skills in chemistry and biology.

He was a chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology professor at the University of California, San Diego.

He discovered and developed green fluorescent protein (GFP) in collaboration with Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie.

The GFP discovery made him get awarded the Noble Prize in Chemistry, and he also pioneered calcium imaging.

Get to learn more about the wonderful life of Roger Y. Tsien in these top 10 interesting facts about him.

1. Roger Y. Tsien was born in a Chinese American family

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Tsien’s full name is Roger Yonchien Tsien, and he was born on February 1, 1952, in New York to Hsue Chu Tsien and Yi Ying. He had two brothers, Richard Tsien and Louis Tsien.

His brother Richard Tsien was a neurobiologist currently at New York University, and Louis, a software engineer. Tsien was married to Wendy Globe.

He grew up in Livingston, new jersey, and schooled in Livingston high school. His family ancestry is traced to Hangzhou, China.

Tsien’s dad was an alumnus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a mechanical engineer who excelled well academically, graduating top in his university classes.

2. Roger Y. Tsien was asthmatic

When he was a child, he had asthma, which made him spend many hours in his basement laboratory conducting chemistry experiments.

Due to his condition he couldn’t participate in sport activities and he was two years younger than his classmates. When he went to school he was elected student council treasure.

Tsien participated in a National Science Foundation sponsored research programme at Ohio University. The following year he submitted his analysed results to Westinghouse Talent Search.

When he turned 16 years, he won his first prize in the nationwide Westinghouse Talent Search with a project investigating how metals bind to thiocyanate. Tsien is one of the finalist who later won Noble prize.

3. Roger Y. Tsien discovered the Green Fluorescent Protein

Together with his co-recipients Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chaltie, Tsien discovered and developed the green fluorescent protein.

The green fluorescent protein provides a visual signal in real-time where scientists can watch where and when proteins are produced and how different proteins or parts of proteins move and approach each other within a cell.

He also discovered how to make proteins glow more brightly and in a different color. This discovery made it possible to simultaneously study various processes in the same cell.

He later developed fluorescence techniques to differentiate cancer cells from surrounding tissues and mark nerve cells. Both discoveries would prove helpful in surgery.

4. Roger Y. Tsien pioneered Calcium Imaging

He pioneered calcium imaging, known for developing different dyes that become fluorescent in the presence of particular ions such as calcium.

He also pioneered fluorescent indicators for other ions such as copper, iron, magnesium, mercury, lead, cobalt, and aluminum.

One of his dyes, Fura-2, tracks calcium concentration changes within a cell.

Additionally, he developed a Calmodulin-based sensor named Cameleon, which helped overcome the limitation of Aequorin, a valuable tool to indicate calcium levels inside cells.

Aequorin’s limitation is that its prosthetic group coelenterazine is consumed irreversibly when it emits light; thus, it requires continuous coelenterazine into the media.

5. He was a professor

In 1977 Tsien received his Ph. D in physiology from the University of Cambridge after he did successful research on 鈥淭he Design and Use of Organic Chemical Tools in Cellular Physiology.鈥� He became a researcher at the university until 1981, when he left.

In 1982 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. At the beginning of 1989, he became a professor at the University of California in San Diego.

He served as a pharmacology, chemistry, and biochemistry professor for 27 years and as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

6. Tsien was a Noble laureate

Tsien during Noble Prize giving. Photo outsourced from

Tsien was awarded the noble prize in chemistry in 2008. He shared the noble prize with Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie.

They were awarded the noble for developing and discovering the green fluorescent protein.

7. He was an American biochemist

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Tsien was a biochemist who was well trained in biochemistry. He had excellent knowledge and skills in biology and chemistry.

His excellent knowledge and skills led to the discovery of green fluorescent protein and later came up with a way to make it glow more brightly.

The GFP has been fundamental in life sciences laboratories globally, helping researchers watch molecules interact in real-time.

8. Tsien fluorescent innovation assisted in cancer surgery

The Tsien group suggested that the mouse experiment could guide cancer surgery with an assistant fluorescent peptide.

The peptide would be used as probes and are harmless to organs and living tissues. They would act as a biological messenger carrying information from one tissue to another.

Peptide would help to differentiate cancer cells from the surrounding tissues.

9. Tsien and his colleagues developed FIAsH-EDT2

Chemical structure of FIAsH-EDT2. Photo by Klaus Holffmeier on

FIAsH-EDT2 is a biochemical method used in bioanalytical research as a fluorescent label for visualizing proteins in living cells.

The FIAsH-EDT2 has helped in the clinical study of protein trafficking, folding, and interactions in living cells or cell lysates.

Tsien and his group developed it in 1998, proving it a better alternative to a green fluorescent protein. FIAsH-EDT2 is much smaller, therefore, minimizing the perturbation of activity of the protein under the study.

Most recently, FIAsH-EDT2 was used in a comprehensive study of plant cells like Arabidopsis.

10. The cause of Tsien’s death remains a mystery

Tsien died on August 24, 2016. The University of California made a press release on 31st august announcing his death.

The actual cause of his death was not identified, but it is believed he died while on a bike trail in Eugene, Oregon.

Before his death, Tsien had survived cancer and suffered a stroke in 2013. Tsien accomplished much and remarkable innovation, and he will not be forgotten.