Chemical biology
Chemical biology

ACS Chemical Biology’s Laura L. Kiessling Wins 2017 Tetrahedron Prize For Creativity in Organic Chemistry

Jesse Stanchak
  • 2 min read

ACS Chemical Biology Editor-in-Chief Laura L. Kiessling is the winner of the 2017 Tetrahedron Prize For Creativity in Organic Chemistry. The award, given by Elsevier and the Board of Executive Editors of the Tetrahedron journal series, recognizes Kiessling’s contributions to organic chemistry, notably her work in chemical glycobiology. Kiessling is the Novartis Professor of Chemistry […]

ACS Chemical Biology Editor-in-Chief Laura L. Kiessling is the winner of the 2017 Tetrahedron Prize For Creativity in Organic Chemistry. The award, given by Elsevier and the Board of Executive Editors of the Tetrahedron journal series, recognizes Kiessling’s contributions to organic chemistry, notably her work in chemical glycobiology.

The Tetrahedron Prize is given annually to an organic or medicinal chemist who has made significant original contributions to the field at large. This year marks the first time the prize has been awarded to a woman since it was established in 1980.

Upon learning she’d been selected for this year’s award, Kiessling noted that the honor held special meaning for her, since previous recipients included some of her mentors, Stuart Schreiber and Peter Dervan. Kiessling is the second ACS Editor to win the prize in three years, with the 2015 prize awarded to William L. Jorgensen, the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation.

Kiessling is no stranger to winning major scientific awards. Some of her recent honors include the Willard Gibbs Award, the James W. Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award, the Claude S. Hudson Award, the Murray S. Goodman Memorial Prize, the Albert Hofmann Award, University of Zurich, Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry and Alexander M. Cruickshank Award. Earlier this year she was named a member of the American Philosophical Society.

The 2017 Tetrahedron Prize For Creativity in Organic Chemistry will be presented to Kiessling during the 256th ACS National Meeting & Exposition in Boston Massachusetts, to be held between August 19th and 23rd, 2018. The award consists of a gold medal, a certificate, and a monetary award of $15,000.

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