Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Lectureships and Awards

ACS Publications' journal lectureships and awards recognize a mix of early career and established investigators who have made significant contributions to research in their fields.

We invite you to explore current and past awards in Biological and Medicinal Chemistry.

ACS Chemical Biology Early Career Award

Nomination Status: Open
Deadline: July 23, 2025

This award honors the contributions of an early-career individual who is doing outstanding work in chemical biology.

Molecular Pharmaceutics Early Career Best Paper Award

Nomination Status: Open
Deadline: July 23, 2025

Sponsored by Molecular Pharmaceutics, this award is presented to three early career scientists, one each from three major geographic regions: the Americas, Europe/the Middle East/Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Bioconjugate Chemistry Early Career Award

Nomination Status: Open
Deadline: July 23, 2025

This award recognizes the contributions of one person who has made a major impact working at the interface of the synthetic and biological worlds.

ACS Synthetic Biology Young Innovator Award

Nomination Status: Closed

ACS Synthetic Biology, in partnership with The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, is proud to announce Prof. John Ngo (Boston University) as the winner of the 2025 ACS Synthetic Biology Young Innovator Award.

This award recognizes an outstanding early career investigator conducting research in any area of synthetic biology.

Philip S. Portoghese Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship

Nomination Status: Closed

The Editors of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, and the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry (MEDI) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Philip S. Portoghese Journal of Medicinal Chemistry/ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters/Division of Medicinal Chemistry Joint Lectureship Awards:

• Dr. Leslie Burnett (Revolution Medicines, United States)
• Prof. David Heppner (SUNY Buffalo, United States)

These annual awards are named in honor of Professor Philip S. Portoghese, who served as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Medicinal Chemistry from 1972 to 2011. The awards are given to young investigators who have displayed impact and/or promise of impact to the field of medicinal chemistry.

Biochemistry Gordon Hammes Lectureship Award

Nomination Status: Closed

Biochemistry and the ACS Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology are pleased to announce Prof. Karen Allen (Boston University) as the winner of the 2025 Gordon Hammes Lectureship Award.

This award recognizes and honors an individual whose scientific contributions have had a major impact on research across all biological chemistry.

Biochemistry Gordon Hammes Scholar Award

Nomination Status: Closed

Biochemistry and the ACS Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology are pleased to announce Dr. Jianjun Cao (Monash University) as the winner of the 2025 Gordon Hammes Scholar Award.

This award honors early career scientists responsible for exceptional research published in Biochemistry.

Chemical Research in Toxicology Young Investigator Award

Nomination Status: Closed

Chemical Research in Toxicology and the ACS Division of Chemical Toxicology are thrilled to announce Professor Benedikt Warth, Universität Wien, Austria, as the winner of the 2025 Chemical Research in Toxicology Young Investigator Award.

This award honors the contributions of an early-career individual who has had a major impact on research in chemical toxicology or a related field.

ACS Catalysis Lectureship for the Advancement of Catalytic Science

Nomination Status: Closed

ACS Catalysis, in partnership with the ACS Division of Catalysis Science and Technology (CATL) and the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry (ORGN), is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 ACS Catalysis Lectureship for the Advancement of Catalytic Science:

• Biocatalysis: Prof. Debasis Das, Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
• Heterogeneous Catalysis: Prof. Lifang Jiao, Nankai University, China
• Homogeneous Catalysis: Prof. Rui Shang, University of Tokyo, Japan

This annual award honors an individual or a collaborative team for recent and significant contributions to the field, which appeared as a publication in ACS Catalysis within the last 36 months preceding the nomination deadline (2022, 2023 or 2024).

ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award

Nomination Status: Closed

ACS Infectious Diseases, in partnership with the ACS Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology (BIOL), is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Joint Lectureship Awards:

• Clarissa Melo Czekster, University of St. Andrews
• Dmitry Lyumkis, Salk Institute
• Aran Singanayagam, Imperial College, London

The 2025 ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award recognizes three outstanding early-career investigators conducting infectious diseases research. The award honors the recipients’ contributions to the field of infectious diseases research at an early stage in their careers.