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Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award

The Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding researcher who has made a major impact working at the interface between the biological and human-made worlds.

2024 Award Winner

Professor Abhishek Chaterjee
Boston College

The Bioconjugate Chemistry Young Investigator Award, established in 2023*, recognizes an outstanding young researcher who has made a major impact at the interface of synthetic and biological systems. Bioconjugate Chemistry is a peer reviewed journal published by the American Chemical Society.  Since 2018, the award has been cosponsored by Bioconjugate Chemistry and PMSE.  This year’s recipient is Professor Abhishek Chaterjee from Boston College

Professor Chatterjee was born in India in 1979. He received his B.Sc. (Hons) at Calcutta University in 2001, M.Sc. at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 2003, and Ph.D. at Cornell University in 2009, working with Prof. Tadhg Begley. After a postdoctoral training with Prof. Peter Schultz at The Scripps Research Institute from 2009 to 2013, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Boston College in 2013 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2019, and Professor in 2022.
 
The Chatterjee group is broadly interested in engineering biology using an interdisciplinary approach to develop enabling new technologies for probing complex biological questions, and to create opportunities for developing next-generation biotherapeutics. A particular focus of the group is the development and application of genetic code expansion technology, which enables the precise introduction of enabling non-natural chemistries into predefined sites of proteins. The research from the Chatterjee group has been recognized by several awards, including the Smith Family Foundation Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and Allen Distinguished Investigator Award.  

The award will be presented at the ACS Fall Meeting in Denver, from August 18-22, 2024. Professor Chatterjee will be presenting a lecture as part of the Bioconjugate Chemistry Young Investigator Symposium at the meeting, along with other prominent researchers in the field.  Please check the conference program when finalized to verify time and location.

Sponsored By

Bioconjugate Chemistry, an ACS Journal

Award Details

This award consists of a $3000 prize, a plaque, registration and $1500 maximum travel allowance to attend the Fall ACS National Meeting for the award presentation and to give a lecture at the “Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship and Award Symposium.”  The winner is also expected to submit a review or topical review to Bioconjugate Chemistry, which will be subjected to peer review.

History*

This award was established by Bioconjugate Chemistry in 2016 and managed by the ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry until 2018. It was changed in 2023 to the Bioconjugate Chemistry Young Investigator Award.

Nominations

Nomination packages should follow package submission guidelines detailed below.

The selection will be made by a five-member committee consisting of three individuals selected by the Editor-in-Chief of Bioconjugate Chemistry and two selected by the Chair of the PMSE Division.

Past Recipients

Award and Nomination Summary

Purpose

Bioconjugate Chemistry and the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering present the Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship Award, which recognizes the contributions of an individual who has made a major impact working at the interface between the synthetic and biological worlds.

Rules of Eligibility

Nominees should be established researchers with documented impact to chemistry, polymers, or engineering at the synthetic and biological interface.

Nominations Process

Nominations are to be submitted to Vincent M. Rotello through a web form that will be advertised on the homepage. The application deadline is near the end of February of each calendar year, but the specific date will be defined annually by the current nomination chair.

The nomination should be submitted as a single pdf file consisting of the following items: (1) a nomination letter that succinctly describes the impact of the individual’s research accomplishments, (2) a second letter from another individual who is familiar with the nominees works, (3) a five-page CV that should include: education, appointments, honors & awards, and a list of up to 25 relevant publications and (4) a tentative lecture title and abstract (300 words or less).

Award Selection

The selection will be made by a five-member committee consisting of three individuals selected by the Editor-in-Chief of Bioconjugate Chemistry and two selected by the Chair of the PMSE Division.

Award Announcement and Nature

Awardees are selected and announced in April of the calendar year. An interview is generally conducted with ACS Axial and released as part of the announcement package.

This award consists of a $3000 prize, a plaque, registration costs, and $1500 maximum travel allowance to attend the Fall ACS National Meeting for the award presentation and to give a lecture at the “Bioconjugate Chemistry Lectureship and Award Symposium.”  The winner is also expected to submit a review or topical review to Bioconjugate Chemistry, which will be subjected to peer review.

The winner is also expected to submit a review or topical review to Bioconjugate Chemistry, which will be subjected to peer review. Awards are given during ACS National Meetings at the PMSE and POLY evening reception.

About Our Sponsor

Bioconjugate Chemistry in an ACS Transformative Journal that started publication in 1990, publishing original contributions on all research at the interface between man-made and biological materials. The mission of the journal is to communicate to advances in fields including therapeutic delivery, imaging, bionanotechnology, and synthetic biology. Bioconjugate Chemistry is intended to provide a forum for presentation of research relevant to all aspects of bioconjugates, including the preparation, properties and applications of biomolecular conjugates.


Full List of Award Winners

2020 – Present

2023 Dr. Jean-Christophe Leroux, ETH Zurich

2022 Neal K. Devaraj, University of California, San Diego
Interview at ACS Axial

2021 Chunying Chen, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of China
Interview at ACS Axial

2020 Jason Lewis, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

2016 – 2019

2019 Heather Maynard, University of California, Los Angeles

2018 Wolfgang J. Parak, University of Hamburg

2017 Matthew Francis, University of California, Berkeley

2016 Xiaoyuan (Shawn) Chen, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, NIH
Topical review: Amphiphilic-Polymer-Guided Plasmonic Assemblies and Their Biomedical Applications