Roger Y. Tsien

File:Krugman-Tsien-Chalfie-Shimomura-Kobayashi-Masukawa-press conference Dec 07th, 2008-1.jpg, Roger Tsien, Martin Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Masukawa, Nobel Prize Laureates 2008, at a press conference at the Swedish Academy of Science in Stockholm]]

Tsien was born to a Chinese American family in New York in 1952. He grew up in Livingston, New Jersey and attended Livingston High School.Swayze, Bill. [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EFDA7482424E8F4&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=NaN&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=B66T5DCTMTE5MDAyNzY4My41NTQ5OTI6MTo3OnJhLTE4ODg "Jersey teens call science a winner: Two finalists say just being in Westinghouse talent competition is prize enough"], The Star-Ledger, March 11, 1997. Accessed September 18, 2007. "Only one New Jersey teenager has ever captured top honors in the history of the competition. That was Roger Tsien in 1968. The then-16-year-old Livingston High School math-science whiz explored the way subatomic particles act as bridges between two dissimilar metal atoms in various complex molecules." Tsien traces his family ancestry to Hangzhou, China. His father Hsue-Chu Tsien, an MIT and Shanghai Chiao Tung University alumnus, was a mechanical engineer and had excelled academically, graduating at the top of his university class.

Tsien suffered from asthma as a child, and as a result, he was often indoors. He spent hours conducting chemistry experiments in his basement laboratory. When he was 16, he won first prize in the nationwide Westinghouse Talent Search with a project investigating how metals bind to thiocyanate.Nicole Kresge, Robert D. Simoni, and Robert L. Hill. [http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/281/37/e29 "The Chemistry of Fluorescent Indicators: the Work of Roger Y. Tsien"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714131246/http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/281/37/e29 |date=July 14, 2009 }}, Journal of Biological Chemistry, September 15, 2006. Accessed September 18, 2007. "At age 16, Tsien won first prize in the nationwide Westinghouse talent search with a project investigating how metals bind to thiocyanate."

Tsien attended Harvard College on a National Merit Scholarship, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior.{{cite web |url = http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1971/4/24/phi-beta-kappa-pthe-alpha-chapter/ |title = Phi Beta Kappa |format = Web page |publisher=The Harvard Crimson |date=April 24, 1971 |access-date=October 9, 2008}} He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry and physics in 1972.{{cite web |url=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/nobel_laureate_roger_tsien_dies_age_64 |title=Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien Dies, Age 64 |last1=LaFee |first1=Scott |date=31 August 2016 |publisher=UC San Diego News Center |access-date=31 August 2016}} According to his freshman-year roommate, economist and Iowa politician Herman Quirmbach, "It's probably not an exaggeration to say he's the smartest person I ever met ... [a]nd I have met a lot of brilliant people."{{cite web |url = http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/10/9/harvard-alumni-win-nobel-prize-in/ |title = Harvard Alumni Win Nobel Prize – Three chemists share award for green fluorescent jellyfish protein |format= Web page |publisher=The Harvard Crimson |author1=June Q. Wu |author2=CRIMSON STAFF WRITER |date=October 9, 2008 |access-date=October 9, 2008}}

After completing his bachelor's degree, Tsien joined the Physiological Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England with the aid of a Marshall Scholarship, and resided at Churchill College, Cambridge.{{cite web |url = http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2008100801 |title=Cambridge graduate wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry |format= Web page |publisher=The University of Cambridge |date=October 8, 2008 |access-date=October 8, 2008}} He received his Ph.D. in physiology in 1977 for research on The Design and Use of Organic Chemical Tools in Cellular Physiology {{cite thesis |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Cambridge |title=The design and use of organic chemical tools in cellular physiology.|first= Roger Yongchien|last=Tsien|date=1976|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.475593|oclc=500581238}} formally supervised by Richard Adrian in the department of physiology and assisted by Andy Holmes, Gerry Smith and Jeremy Sanders in the department of chemistry.

Following his Ph.D., Tsien was a research fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from 1977 to 1981. He was appointed to the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1982 to 1989.{{cite journal |last1=Rink |first1= Timothy J. |last2=Tsien |first2=Louis Y.|last3=Tsien |first3=Richard W. |date=13 October 2016 |title=Roger Yonchien Tsien (1952–2016) |journal=Nature |volume=538 |issue=172 |pages= 172|doi = 10.1038/538172a |issn = 0028-0836 |pmid=27734865|pmc= 5960232 |bibcode= 2016Natur.538..172R }} Beginning in 1989, he worked at the University of California, San Diego, as professor of pharmacology and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.{{cite web|url=http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/tsien.html |title=HHMI Scientist Abstract: Roger Y. Tsien, PhD |format= Web page |publisher=HHMI |date=August 20, 2007 |access-date=October 8, 2008}}{{cite web |url=http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/tsien_bio.html |title=HHMI Scientist Bio: Roger Y. Tsien, PhD |format=Web page |publisher=HHMI |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-date=June 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618153015/http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/tsien_bio.html |url-status=dead }}

Tsien contributed to the fields of cell biology and neurobiology by discovering genetically programmable fluorescent tags, thereby allowing scientists to watch the behavior of molecules in living cells in real time. He also developed fluorescent indicators of calcium ions and other ions important in biological processes.

File:GFP Fluorescent Protein Movie.gif.]]

In 2004, Tsien was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine "for his seminal contribution to the design and biological application of novel fluorescent and photolabile molecules to analyze and perturb cell signal transduction."{{cite web|url=http://www.wolffund.org.il/cat.asp?id=24&cat_title=MEDICINE |title=The Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine |format=Web page |publisher=The Wolf Foundation |year=2004 |access-date=October 8, 2008}}

In 2008, Tsien shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie for "the green fluorescent protein: discovery, expression and development."{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2008/chemadv08.pdf |title=The green fluorescent protein: discovery, expression and development |publisher=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Information Department |date=October 8, 2008 |access-date=October 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028213021/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2008/chemadv08.pdf |archive-date=October 28, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}

The multicolored fluorescent proteins developed in Tsien's lab are used by scientists to track where and when certain genes are expressed in cells or in whole organisms. Typically, the gene coding for a protein of interest is fused with the gene for a fluorescent protein, which causes the protein of interest to glow inside the cell when the cell is irradiated with a suitable wavelength of light and allows microscopists to track its location in real time. This is such a popular technique that it has added a new dimension to the fields of molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry.{{Nobelprize}} with the Nobel lecture Constructing and Exploiting the Fluorescent Protein Paintbox

Since the discovery of the wild type GFP, numerous different mutants of GFP have been engineered and tested.{{cite journal |vauthors = Shaner N, Steinbach P, Tsien R |title = A guide to choosing fluorescent proteins |journal = Nat Methods |volume=2 |issue=12 |pages = 905–9 |year=2005 |url = http://tsienlab.ucsd.edu/Publications/Shaner%202005%20Nature%20Methods%20-%20Choosing%20fluorescent%20proteins.pdf |pmid=16299475 |doi = 10.1038/nmeth819|s2cid = 10024284 }} The first significant leap forward was a single point mutation (S65T) reported by Tsien in 1995 in Nature.{{cite journal |vauthors = Heim R, Cubitt A, Tsien R |title=Improved green fluorescence |journal=Nature |volume=373 |issue=6516 |pages = 663–4 |year=1995 |url= http://tsienlab.ucsd.edu/Publications/Heim%201995%20Nature%20-%20Improved%20GFP.PDF |pmid=7854443 |doi = 10.1038/373663b0|bibcode=1995Natur.373..663H |s2cid=40179694 }} This mutation dramatically improved the fluorescent (both intensity and photostability) and spectral characteristics of GFP. A shift of the major excitation peak to 488 nm with the emission peak staying at 509 nm thus can be clearly observed, which matched very well the spectral characteristics of commonly available FITC facilities. All these then largely amplified the practicality of using GFP by scientists in their research. Tsien mainly contributed to much of our understanding of how GFP works and for developing new techniques and mutants of GFP.

Former trainees of Roger Y. Tsien include Atsushi Miyawaki and Alice Y. Ting.

Timelines of GFP-development involved by Tsien:

• 1994: Tsien showed the mechanism that GFP chromophore is formed in a chemical reaction which requires oxygen but without help from the other proteins.
• 1994–1998: Tsien and collaborators made various GFP mutants by genetic modification and structural tweaking. Newly created variants of GFP can shine more brightly and show different colours, such as yellow, cyan, and blue.
• 2000–2002: Tsien produced monomeric variants of DsRED, which can glow in shades of red, pink, and orange. Remarkably, since then complicated marcromolecular networks of living organisms can be labelled or marked by using "all the colours of the rainbow".

Other detailed highlights involved by Tsien:{{cite web|url=http://www.conncoll.edu/ccacad/zimmer/GFP-ww/timeline.html |title=Green Fluorescent Protein: Timeline |format=Web page |publisher=Conncoll.edu |date=18 Nov 2009 |access-date=December 22, 2009}}

• 2002: The critical structural difference between GFP and DsRed was revealed. One extra double-bond in the chromophore of DsRed extends its conjugation thus causes the red-shift.
• 2002: Monomeric DsRed (mRFP) was first developed.
• 2004: New "fruit" FPs were generated (by in vitro and in vivo directed evolutions).

In 2009, a new kind of Infrared Fluorescent Protein (IFP) was developed by Tsien's group, and further reported and described by Science. The new IFPs are developed from bacterial phytochromes instead of from multicellular organism like jellyfish. Under normal conditions, bacterial phytochromes absorb light for signaling instead of fluorescence, but they can be turned fluorescent after deleting some of the signaling parts by genetic means such as site-directed mutagenesis. In order to fluoresce, IFPs require an exogenous chromophore, biliverdin.{{cite journal |author1=Xiaokun Shu |author2=Antoine Royant |author3=Michael Z. Lin |author4=Todd A. Aguilera |author5=Varda Lev-Ram |author6=Paul A. Steinbach |author7=Roger Y. Tsien | title = Mammalian Expression of Infrared Fluorescent Proteins Engineered from a Bacterial Phytochrome | journal = Science | volume = 324 | pages = 804–07 | year = 2009 | doi = 10.1126/science.1168683 | pmid = 19423828 | issue = 5928 | pmc = 2763207 |bibcode=2009Sci...324..804S }}

In 2016, a new class of fluorescent protein was evolved from a cyanobacterial (Trichodesmium erythraeum) phycobiliprotein, α-allophycocyanin, and named small ultra red fluorescent protein (smURFP). smURFP autocatalytically self-incorporates the chromophore biliverdin without the need of an external protein, known as a lyase.{{Cite journal|last1=Rodriguez|first1=Erik A.|last2=Tran|first2=Geraldine N.|last3=Gross|first3=Larry A.|last4=Crisp|first4=Jessica L.|last5=Shu|first5=Xiaokun|last6=Lin|first6=John Y.|last7=Tsien|first7=Roger Y.|date=2016-08-01|title=A far-red fluorescent protein evolved from a cyanobacterial phycobiliprotein|journal=Nature Methods|doi=10.1038/nmeth.3935|issn=1548-7105|pmid=27479328|volume=13|issue=9|pages=763–9|pmc=5007177}} Jellyfish- and coral-derived fluorescent proteins require oxygen and produce a stoichiometric amount of hydrogen peroxide upon chromophore formation.{{Cite journal|last=Tsien|first=Roger Y.|date=1998-01-01|title=The Green Fluorescent Protein|journal=Annual Review of Biochemistry|volume=67|issue=1|pages=509–544|doi=10.1146/annurev.biochem.67.1.509|pmid=9759496}} smURFP does not require oxygen or produce hydrogen peroxide and uses the chromophore, biliverdin. smURFP has a large extinction coefficient (180,000 M⁻¹ cm⁻¹) and has a modest quantum yield (0.20), which makes it comparable biophysical brightness to eGFP and ~2-fold brighter than most red or far-red fluorescent proteins derived from coral. smURFP spectral properties are similar to the organic dye Cy5.

Roger Tsien built the foundation of next generation sequencing technology that became widely used. On 26 October 1990, Roger Tsien et al. filed a patent of stepwise ("base-by-base") sequencing with removable 3' blockers on DNA arrays. Illumina integrated this concept with DNA cloning for their next generation sequencer.{{cite web|url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=19910516&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP&CC=WO&NR=9106678A1&KC=A1&ND=4|title=Espacenet – Bibliographic data|website=worldwide.espacenet.com}}

Tsien was a pioneer of calcium imaging and known for developing various dyes which become fluorescent in the presence of particular ions such as calcium. One such dye, fura-2, is widely used to track changes of calcium concentration within cells. indo-1 and fluo-3, other popular calcium indicators, were also developed by Tsien's group in 1985 and 1989 respectively. He has also developed fluorescent indicators for other ions such as magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, lead, cadmium, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, and mercury.{{Cite web | url=https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/references/molecular-probes-the-handbook/indicators-for-ca2-mg2-zn2-and-other-metal-ions/fluorescent-indicators-for-zn2-and-other-metal-ions.html | title=Fluorescent Indicators for Zn2+ and Other Metal Ions—Section 19.7 – US}}

Aequorin is also a useful tool to indicate calcium level inside cells; however, it has some limitations, primarily is that its prosthetic group coelenterazine is consumed irreversibly when emits light, thus requires continuous addition of coelenterazine into the media. To overcome such issues, Tsien's group also developed the calmodulin-based sensor, named Cameleon.{{cite journal |vauthors=Miyawaki A, Llopis J, Heim R, McCaffery JM, Adams JA, Ikurak M, Tsien RY | title = Fluorescent indicators for Ca²⁺ based on green fluorescent proteins and calmodulin. | journal = Nature | volume = 388 | pages = 882–7 | year = 1997 | pmid = 9278050 | doi = 10.1038/42264 | issue = 6645 | bibcode = 1997Natur.388..882M | s2cid = 13745050 | doi-access = free }}

FlAsH-EDT2 is a biochemical method for specific covalent labeling of proteins harboring a tetracysteine motif (CCXXCC). It's a method based on recombinant protein molecules, and was developed by Tsien and his colleagues in 1998.{{cite journal |author1=B. Albert Griffin |author2=Stephen R. Adams |author3=Roger Y. Tsien | title = Specific Covalent Labeling of Recombinant Protein Molecules Inside Live Cells | journal = Science | volume = 281 | pages = 269–72 | year = 1998 | doi = 10.1126/science.281.5374.269 | pmid = 9657724 | issue = 5374 |bibcode=1998Sci...281..269G }}

• "FLASH-EDT2": Fluorescein arsenical helix binder, bis-EDT adduct,
• "EDT": 1,2-ethanedithiol.

Mouse experiments by Tsien's group suggest that cancer surgery can be guided and assisted by fluorescent peptides. The peptides are used as probes, and are harmless to living tissues and organs. Their lifetime in the body is only 4 or 5 days. Clinical trials are awaited.{{cite web|url=http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=portal&id=publication:10:article:21021:pnas-fluorescence-mr-imaging-probe-can-guide-cancer-surgery&division=hiit |title=PNAS: Fluorescence + MR imaging probe can guide cancer surgery |format=php |publisher= PNAS|date=March 4, 2010 |access-date=March 11, 2010 }}

Tsien was also a notable biochemical inventor and held or coheld about 100 patents till 2010. In 1996, Tsien cofounded the Aurora Biosciences Corporation, which went public in 1997. In 2001, Aurora was acquired by the Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Similarly, Tsien was also a scientific cofounder of Senomyx in 1999.Interview, Roger Tsien. [https://www.rsb.org.uk/images/pdf/Biochemistry_supplement_final_proofs.pdf The light fantastic], pages 7–9 in The Biologist, Biochemistry Supplement. Vol 62 No 5 supplement. Oct/Nov 2015

Tsien also promoted science education to promising young scientists through the first-ever San Diego Science Festival Lunch with a Laureate Program.[http://www.sdsciencefestival.com/school-programs/lunch-with-laureates.html San Diego Science Festival Lunch with a Laureate]

Tsien is a 34th-generational descendant of the King of Wuyüeh, Tsien Liu.{{cite web|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-10-09/001116418702.shtml |script-title=zh:诺贝尔化学奖得主钱永健系吴越国王34世孙 |trans-title=Nobel Chemistry Prize winner Roger Tsien is the 34th-generational descendant of the King of Wuyue |publisher=Sina.com |date=October 9, 2008 |access-date=October 9, 2008 |language=zh}} Tsien's parents Hsue-Chu Tsien and Yi-Ying Li (李懿穎) came from Hangzhou and Beijing, respectively.

Tsien had a number of engineers in his extended family, including his father Hsue-Chu Tsien who was an MIT-educated mechanical engineer and his mother's brothers Y. T. Li (李耀滋) and Shihying Lee (李詩穎), who were engineering professors at MIT. Tsien's mother Yi-Ying Li was a nurse. The rocket scientist Tsien Hsue-shen, regarded as the cofounding father of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology and, later, the director of the Chinese ballistic-missile and space programs, is a cousin of Tsien's father.{{cite journal |author=Ruth Williams |title=People & Ideas – Roger Tsien: Bringing color to cell biology |journal=J Cell Biol |volume=179 |issue=1 |pages=6–8 |date=October 8, 2007 |pmid=17923526 |pmc=2064723 |doi=10.1083/jcb.1791pi |last2=Horsfall |first2=MJ |last3=Van Helten |first3=JB |last4=Glickman |first4=BW |last5=Mohn |first5=GR}}

Tsien was the younger brother of Richard Tsien, a neurobiologist at New York University,{{cite journal|last1=Ma|first1=Huan|last2=Li|first2=Boxing|last3=Tsien|first3=Richard W.|title=Distinct roles of multiple isoforms of CaMKII in signaling to the nucleus|journal=Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research|volume=1853|issue=9|year=2015|pages=1953–1957|issn=0167-4889|doi=10.1016/j.bbamcr.2015.02.008|pmid=25700840|pmc=4522395}} and Louis Tsien, a software engineer. Tsien, who called his own work molecular engineering, once said, "I'm doomed by heredity to do this kind of work."Steele, D. (2004) Cells aglow. HHMI Bulletin, Summer 2004, 22–26

He was married to Wendy Globe.

Tsien died on August 24, 2016.Huang, Christopher L.-H. (2018). "Roger Yonchien Tsien. 1 February 1952—24 August 2016". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2018.0013 Although the specific cause of death was not disclosed, it was reported that he died while on a bike trail in Eugene, Oregon.{{Cite journal | last = Lippard| first = Stephen J. | date = October 7, 2016 | title = Roger Y. Tsien (1952–2016) | journal = Science | volume = 354 | issue = 6038|page = 41 | doi = 10.1126/science.aak9585 | pmid = 27846487 | bibcode = 2016Sci...354...41L | s2cid = 3208420 | url = https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aak9585}} Prior to his death, Tsien had survived cancer and suffered a stroke in 2013.{{cite news|url=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/sep/21/radar-death-and-un-taxing-salary/|title=Details scarce in death of Nobel Prize–winner|first=Matt|last=Potter|date=September 21, 2016|access-date=May 6, 2017|newspaper=San Diego Reader}}{{cite news|url=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/sep/21/radar-death-and-un-taxing-salary/|title=Nobel-Winning Chemist Created a Rainbow of Colors to Illuminate Cells|first=James R.|last=Hagerty|date=September 9, 2016|access-date=May 6, 2017|newspaper=Wall Street Journal}}

"He was ahead of us all," said Tsien's wife, Wendy. "He was ever the adventurer, the pathfinder, the free and soaring spirit. Courage, determination, creativity and resourcefulness were hallmarks of his character. He accomplished much. He will not be forgotten."

Roger Y. Tsien has received numerous honors and awards in his life, including:

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• National 1st Prize, Westinghouse Science Talent Search (1968)
• National Merit Scholarship, US (1968)
• Detur Prize, Harvard College (1969)
• Marshall Scholarship, British government (1972)
• Comyns Berkeley Research Fellowship, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1977)
• Gedge Prize, University of Cambridge (1978)
• Searle Scholar, Searle Scholar program (1983)
• Lamport Prize, New York Academy of Sciences (1986)
• Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (1989)
• Young Scientist Award, Passano Foundation (1991)
• W. Alden Spencer Award in Neurobiology, Columbia University (1991)
• Artois-Baillet-Latour Health Prize, Belgium (1995)
• Gairdner Foundation International Award, Canada (1995)
• Basic Research Prize, American Heart Association (1995)
• Elected to the United States Institute of Medicine (1995)
• Doctorate honoris causa, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (1995)
• Faculty Research Lecturer, UC San Diego (1997)
• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1998)
• Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1998)
• Award for Innovation in High Throughput Screening, Society for Biomolecular Screening (1998)
• Pearse Prize, Royal Microscopical Society (2000)
• ACS Award for Creative Invention, American Chemical Society (2002)
• Christian B. Anfinsen Award, Protein Society (2002)
• Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002)
• Max Delbrück Medal, Max Delbrück Centrum für Molekulare Medizin, Berlin (2002){{cite web |url=http://www.mdc-berlin.de/en/news/2002/20021121-prof__roger_tsien_honoured_with_max_delbru/index.html |title=Prof. Roger Tsien Honoured with Max Delbrueck Medal |format=Web page |publisher=Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch |author=Barbara Bachtler |date=November 21, 2002 |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-date=January 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103201348/http://www.mdc-berlin.de/en/news/2002/20021121-prof__roger_tsien_honoured_with_max_delbru/index.html |url-status=dead }}
• Wolf Prize in Medicine, Israel (2004)
• Keio Medical Science Prize, Japan (2004)
• UCSD Chancellor's Associates Award for Excellence in Science & Engineering Research, UC San Diego (2004)
• Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize, University of North Carolina (2004)
• Associate EMBO Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization 2005.
• J.Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, Robarts Research Institute, Canada (2005)
• ABRF Award, Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (2006)
• Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in the Basic Medical Sciences, Brandeis University (2006){{cite web |url=http://www.rose.brandeis.edu/Center/rose_past.html |title=Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science Past Winners |publisher=Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center |year=2006 |access-date=December 31, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623224059/http://www.rose.brandeis.edu/Center/rose_past.html |archive-date=June 23, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}
• Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2006{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?tip=1&id=4710 |title=New Foreign members & Honorary Fellow 2006 |format=Web page |publisher=The Royal Society |year=2006 |access-date=September 27, 2008}}
• BioPharma Leadership Award, the 6th Annual San Diego BioPharma Conference, San Diego (2007)
• US Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Innovator Award
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Sweden (2008)
• E.B. Wilson Medal, American Society for Cell Biology (2008)
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (HonFRSC), UK (2008){{cite web|url=http://www.rsc.org/Membership/AboutRscMembership/HonFRSC/index.asp |title=Who are our Honorary Fellows? |publisher=The Royal Society of Chemistry |format=asp |access-date=December 27, 2009}}
• Honorary Academician, Academia Sinica (2008){{cite web|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/int%27l--community/2008/10/16/178879/New-Nobel.htm |title=New Nobel laureate to be named honorary academician |work=The China Post |location=Taiwan (ROC) |date=October 16, 2008 |access-date=December 27, 2009}}
• February 18, 2009, Roger Tsien Day, in the City of San Diego, California, US
• Distinguished Science and Technology Award, The 2009 Asian American Engineers of the Year (AAEoY) Award (April 2009){{cite web|url=http://www.eweek.org/site/pdfs/2009_AAEOY_Highlights.pdf |title=2009 AAEOY Awards |publisher=National Engineers Week Foundation |author=Roger S. Dong |volume=XXIV |issue=4 |date=April 2009 |access-date=December 27, 2009}}
• Lifetime Innovation Award, UC San Diego (May 20, 2009){{cite web|url=http://invent.ucsd.edu/info/salute_may09.shtml |title=Salute to Innovation |format=shtml |publisher=UC San Diego Technology Transfer Office (TTO) |date=May 20, 2009 |access-date=May 20, 2009}}
• AHA Distinguished Scientists, American Heart Association (2009)
• Molecular Imaging Achievement Award, Society of Molecular Imaging (2009)
• Doctor of Science honoris causa, The University of Hong Kong (2009){{cite web |url = http://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_6047.html |title = HKU to award Honorary Degree to Nobel Laureate Professor Roger Yonchien Tsien |publisher=The University of Hong Kong |date=Oct 29, 2009 |access-date=October 29, 2009}}
• Doctor of Science honoris causa, Chinese University of Hong Kong (2009){{cite web |url = http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cpr/pressrelease/091210e.htm |title=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Holds 67th Congregation for Conferment of Degrees |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong |date=December 10, 2009 |access-date=December 10, 2009}}
• General President Gold Medal, the 97th Indian Science Congress, India (January 3, 2010){{cite web |url = http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/Showlatest.asp?newsid=2341 |title=PM Dr. Manmohan Singh gives away awards to prominent scientists |format=asp |publisher=India Education Dairy.com |date=January 3, 2010 |access-date=January 4, 2010}}
• Spiers Memorial Award, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2010){{cite web |url = http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/SpiersMemorialAward/2010Winner.asp |title = RSC Spiers Memorial Award 2010 winner – Roger Tsien, UCSD, USA |format=asp |publisher=The Royal Society of Chemistry |year=2009 |access-date=December 22, 2009}}
• Golden Goose Award (2012){{cite web |title=Green Fluorescent Protein |url=http://www.goldengooseaward.org/awardees/200352el6rpcnd3yibqw96m4yxtpvu |publisher=The Golden Goose Award |access-date=2015-05-27 |archive-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909231925/http://www.goldengooseaward.org/awardees/200352el6rpcnd3yibqw96m4yxtpvu |url-status=dead }}
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2012){{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}

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• Bowditch Lectureship, American Physiological Society (1992){{cite web |url = http://www.the-aps.org/mm/awards/Other-APS-Awards/Recipients/Bowditch.html |title = Bowditch Award Lecture |access-date = March 23, 2015 |publisher=American Physiological Society |website = Recipients }}
• Hans L. Falk Memorial Lectureship, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (1993)
• Quastel Lectureship, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1994)
• President's Lectureship, American Thoracic Society (1994)
• Roger Eckert Memorial Lecture, Göttingen Neurobiology Conference of the German Neuroscience Society (1995)
• Melvin Calvin Lectureship, UC Berkeley (1999)
• Herbert Sober Lectureship, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2000)
• Keith Porter Lecture, American Society for Cell Biology (2003)
• Konrad Bloch Lectureship, Harvard University (2003)
• Grass Foundation Lectureship, Society for Neuroscience (2004)
• The 1st Academia Sinica Lecturer (the highest honor of the academy), Dec 2009{{cite web|url=http://newsletter.sinica.edu.tw/news/read_news.php?nid=4288 |script-title=zh:本院邀請諾貝爾化學獎得主錢永健教授12月蒞臨「中央研究院講座」演講 |publisher=Academia Sinica |date=December 11, 2009 |access-date=December 27, 2009 |language=zh}}{{cite web|url=http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1129640&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng |title=Academia Sinica to welcome lectures by 2008 Nobel laureate |publisher=eTaiwan News (Central News Agency) |date=December 11, 2009|access-date=December 27, 2009}}
• The 2010 National Lecturer of the Biophysical Society (the highest honor of the society){{cite web|url=http://www.biophysics.org/Program/ScientificSessions/NationalLecture/tabid/791/Default.aspx |title=The 2010 National Lecture will be given by Roger Tsien, UCSD |format=aspx |publisher=The Biophysical Society |year=2009 |access-date=September 10, 2009}}
• The 2011 UCL Prize Lecture in Clinical Science (University College, London){{Cite web | url=http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/events/2011/10/26/prize-lecture-in-clinical-science-roger-tsien/ | title=UCL 2011 Prize Lecture in Clinical Science with Roger Tsien | UCL Events}}

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• Quyen T. Nguyen

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{{University of California, San Diego}}

{{Wolf Prize in Medicine}}

{{Heineken Prizes}}

{{2008 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 2001-2025}}

{{Ethnic Chinese Nobel laureates}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsien, Roger Y.}}

Category:1952 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:American biochemists

Category:American Nobel laureates

Category:American people of Chinese descent

Category:Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators

Category:Livingston High School (New Jersey) alumni

Category:Marshall Scholars

Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry

Category:Tsien family

Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty

Category:University of California, San Diego faculty

Category:Winners of the Heineken Prize

Category:Wolf Prize in Medicine laureates

Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Category:Searle Scholars Program recipients

Category:American scientists of Asian descent