Yale researcher on cover of Science

Inspired by "curiosity," Doudna and a team of scientists developed the first images of a specialized ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule called an RNA enzyme, or ribozyme. The research proved that the chicken and egg were really one and the same.

For years, scientists have been puzzled as to whether a genetic code or proteins, the catalysts for biological activity, came first.

Ribozymes--first discovered in separate Nobel Prize-winning experiments in the late 1970s by Professor Thomas Cech of the University of Colorado and Yale University biochemist Sidney Altman--solve this dilemma by serving as both a catalyst for reactions and also a self-contained genetic blueprint.

The new images show the 3-D composition of a ribozyme and provide evidence for how they fold into a biologically active molecule.

An understanding of how RNA molecules arrange themselves could yield to advances in the development of drugs to fight everything from viruses like AIDS, to genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis.

"It's very important to note that much of the research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, which are in turn funded by taxpayers," Doudna said. "It's important for people to know that their money is going toward a good cause."

--Greg Wierzynski