Green fluorescent protein is a standard tool in molecular biology. Researchers insert the gene into an animal's genome, and then watch for a characteristic green glow when a particular region is activated. By finding cells where the gene inserts near another protein of interest, it is possible to use that glow as a marker for the point in development or in a biochemical pathway when a particular gene is active, thus allowing scientists to trace the pattern of gene activation within an organism.
The scientists winning the Prize for developing these techniques:
Osamu Shimomura, 80, an emeritus professor at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., and Boston University Medical School; Martin Chalfie, 61, a professor of biological sciences at Columbia University; and Roger Y. Tsien, 56, a professor of pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego.
The technique was first demonstrated in 1994, and by 1997-1998 (when I was in college), the technique had spread to student biology labs. Tsien and other scientists have since widened the color palette available from GFP, both by mutating the gene and by extracting glowing proteins from other species.
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Pity about Douglas Prasher, though, as NPR and www.scienceblogs.com/terrasig report.