Monday's Molecule #87

 
This could be difficult so I'll give you a few clues. This molecule is secreted and it's function is to degrade nucleic acid. I want the name of the molecule and also a brief description of the image you see on the left. What is it showing?

There's a indirect connection between the image of today's molecule and a Nobel Prize. We are looking for the single person most responsible for the particular kind of image you see here.

The first person to correctly identify the molecule and name the Nobel Laureate, wins a free lunch at the Faculty Club. Previous winners are ineligible for one month from the time they first collected the prize. There are four ineligible candidates for this week's reward. You know who you are.

THEME:

Nobel Laureates
Send your guess to Sandwalk (sandwalk (at) bioinfo.med.utoronto.ca) and I'll pick the first email message that correctly identifies the molecule and names the Nobel Laureate(s). Note that I'm not going to repeat Nobel Laureate(s) so you might want to check the list of previous Sandwalk postings by clicking on the link in the theme box.

Correct responses will be posted tomorrow. I reserve the right to select multiple winners if several people get it right.

Comments will be blocked for 24 hours. Comments are now open.

UPDATE: This week's winner is Dima Klenchin of the University of Wisconsin. The molecule is bovine ribonuclease and the image depicts the different conformations of the molecle in solution as solved by NMR. The Nobel Laureate is Kurt Wüthrich. Congratulations Dima!

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