NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Carlos Bustamante, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was named the recipient of the 2012 Vilcek Prize for Biomedical Science.  Awarded annually, the prize honors foreign-born scholars with a lifetime record of achievement and innovation.  Dr. Bustamante was cited for his pioneering discoveries in the field of molecular biology and biophysics; most notably, he has invented tools that make it possible, for the first time, to study life-sustaining cellular processes at the level of single molecules. His methods allow for the manipulation of individual molecules that play central functions inside a cell, giving scientists deeper insight into some of the vital processes occurring inside cells. Beyond laying the groundwork for future potential treatments for life-threatening human diseases, Dr. Bustamante's work has made possible to use ever-finer tools to observe molecular interactions inside cells.