Background
Tsien was born on February 1, 1952 in New York City, New York, United States; the son of Hsue Chu and Yi Ying (Li) Tsien. His parents emigrated from China after the Second World War.
Osamu Shimomura (left), Martin Chalfie (middle) and Roger Y. Tsien (right) at their interview with Nobelprize.org in Stockholm, 6 December 2008.
Roger Y. Tsien after receiving his Nobel Prize at the Stockholm Concert Hall, 10 December 2008.
Roger Tsien during a press conference at the University of California, San Diego, Wednesday 8 October, 2008.
Roger Tsien with current and past colleagues, and students from his lab.
Roger Y. Tsien lectures about GFP during a visit to the Värmdö Gymnasium School in Stockholm, 12 December 2008.
Tsien was born on February 1, 1952 in New York City, New York, United States; the son of Hsue Chu and Yi Ying (Li) Tsien. His parents emigrated from China after the Second World War.
Tsien received a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard College in 1972. Five years later he earned his Doctor of Philosophy in physiology from Cambridge University.
Tsien began his career as a research assistant at the University of Cambridge in 1975 and held it for three years. A year later he was appointed an assistant professor of the Physiology-Anatomy Department at the University of California in Berkeley. In 1985, Roger became an associate professor at the same university.
Tsien decided to take a position of a professor at the University of California in Berkeley in 1987 and held it for two years. In 1989, he took a position of a professor of pharmacology and chemistry at the University of California in San Diego. The same year Roger was an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Much of Roger's early work was directed at imaging neural activity, by trying to develop tracers of sodium- or calcium-ion movements that support brain signalling. Roger's lab pioneered the development of green fluorescent protein (GFP) variants. Through a combination of rational design and random mutagenesis, they created dozens of bright fluorescent proteins of various colours based on GFP.
Roger's group, who he led at the University of California in San Diego developed many other optical probes, including fast-response sensors to measure electrical signals across cell membranes, and dyes for tracking proteins with a combination of light and electron microscopy.
Tsien was a member of National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Arts & Sciences and Phi Beta Kappa.
On July 30, 1982 Roger Tsien married Wendy M. Globe.