WILMINGTON, Del., Oct. 27/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AstraZeneca , one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, has awarded its 2006 Excellence in Chemistry Awards to Professor Jeffrey W. Bode and Professor Melanie S. Sanford.
Each year AstraZeneca presents two talented U.S. academic researchers with a $50,000 unrestricted research grant for their demonstrated achievements in synthetic, mechanistic or bioorganic chemistry. Recipients of the Excellence in Chemistry Award are chosen by a panel of AstraZeneca senior scientists along with the contributions of a world-leading academic chemist who also serves as a distinguished lecturer for that year’s symposium.
The recipients of this year’s milestone awards are Professor Jeffrey W. Bode of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Professor Melanie S. Sanford of the University of Michigan.
Professor Bode’s work focuses on the discovery of new organic reactions that address the timely challenges in reactivity and selectivity. He has identified novel reactions promoted by N-heterocyclic organocatalysts including stereoselective redox esterifications, lactam and lactone synthesis via catalytically generated homoenolates, and highly enantioselective inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactions. In parallel, he developed mechanistically unique and highly chemoselective reactions for the synthesis of amide bonds. As a native of southern California, Jeffrey’s work has been recognized by a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Award, and an Amgen Young Investigator Award.
Professor Sanford will be recognized for her work in the development and mechanistic study of new transition metal catalyzed reactions for applications in organic synthesis. She also focused past research on the mechanism of ruthenium-catalyzed olefin metathesis reactions. Melanie’s work has been recognized by a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Award, a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (NIH), a Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, a National Science Foundation Career Award, a Lilly Grantee Award in Organic Chemistry, a Boehringer Ingelheim New Investigator Award in Organic Chemistry, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Camille & Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, and a Herbert Newby McCoy Award for Graduate Research.
The distinguished lecturer for the 2006 Excellence in Chemistry Awards ceremony is Professor Stephen L. Buchwald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following the two awardees’ presentations, Professor Buchwald will conclude the event with a presentation titled “Transition Metal-Catalyzed Carbon-Carbon and Carbon-Heteroatom Bond-Forming Processes: Progress, Applications and Mechanistic Studies.”
Since the award’s creation in 1985, AstraZeneca has recognized the value that chemists bring to scientific research, acknowledging that innovative chemistry is key to advancing current medical therapies. The work presented by the lecturers may have a significant impact on the drug discovery process since they develop chemical processes that help pharmaceutical companies more rapidly develop new medicines. In the long run this will ultimately lead to improved patient health. The AstraZeneca Excellence in Chemistry Award originated in the United States and has since grown to be adopted by AstraZeneca research & development facilities in Canada and the United Kingdom, recognizing academic researchers across North America and Europe for their achievements.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $23.95 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection products. In the United States, AstraZeneca is a $10.77 billion healthcare business with more than 12,000 employees. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.
For more information about AstraZeneca, please visit: www.astrazeneca-us.com.
-- Photos will be made available upon request.
AstraZeneca
CONTACT: Abigail Baron, +1-302-885-3578,abigail.baron@astrazeneca.com;Emily Denney, +1-302-885-3451, emily.denney@astrazeneca.com, both ofAstraZeneca
Web site: http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/
