Akermin, Inc. Co-Founder is 2008 Recipient of American Chemical Society Award

ST. LOUIS – Dr. Shelley Minteer, Professor of Chemistry at Saint Louis University and co-founder of Akermin, Inc., is the 2008 recipient of the American Chemical Society St. Louis Award, recognizing her leading research in biofuel cells and enzyme immobilization and stabilization. The St. Louis Award, sponsored by the Monsanto Company and administered by the ACS, is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of chemistry and demonstrated potential to further the advancement of the chemical profession. The awardee is selected by a review committee constituted by the St. Louis Section of the ACS.

Additionally, Dr. Minteer was recently promoted to full professor in the chemistry department at Saint Louis University.

Dr. Minteer received her BS in Chemistry at Western Illinois University in 1995 and her Ph. D. from the University of Iowa in 2000. Her graduate work focused on magnetic field effects on electrochemical systems with specific emphasis on magnetically modified electrodes for enhanced electron transfer kinetics.

Dr. Minteer then joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at Saint Louis University as an Assistant Professor. She later received a dual appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. At Saint Louis University, her research program has focused on the development of enzyme immobilization membranes for increased stability of biosensor and biofuel cell electrodes, along with incorporating direct and mediated bioelectrocatalysis into anodes and cathodes. She has recently expanded this work beyond enzymes to mitochondria and is currently developing mitochondria-based biofuel cells and self-powered sensors.

She co-founded Akermin, Inc. in 2003 to commercialize this technology and serves as the company’s Chief Science Advisor.

She has been the recipient of the Missouri Inventor of the Year Award (2006), Academy of Science of St Louis Innovation Award (2005), and the Society of Electroanalytical Chemists Young Investigator Award (2008). Her work is the subject of over 75 publications, 30 patent applications, and two text books.

About Akermin, Inc. Akermin is a leading developer of stabilized enzyme solutions for producing power, food, fuels, and specialty chemical intermediates. Through our unique Stabilized Enzyme Biocatalysis System (SEBS™), we enable new biocatalytic processes and make existing enzymatic transformations more robust and efficient under a wide range of operating conditions, including extremes of temperature and pH. Akermin's proprietary breakthrough in the polymer encapsulation of enzymes will lead to longer-lasting and more environmentally-friendly fuel cells and batteries, and enhance the value of food, pharmaceutical and chemical production. SEBS™ has demonstrated the capability to immobilize numerous enzymes and proven the potential for Akermin's technology in multi-billion dollar markets for enzyme-enabled products and processes.