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  Latest News  
  September 28, 2004  

AWARDS

  'Genius Grants' For 2004
Four of 23 MacArthur Fellows named this year are in chemistry-related fields
 

LINDA R. RABER
 
 
  The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named 23 new MacArthur Fellows for 2004 on Sept. 28. Each recipient of the so-called genius grants will receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years. Fellows are selected for their originality, creativity, and potential to do more in the future. Four chemical scientists are among the 2004 winners.

Belcher
Angela Belcher, 37, a nanotechnologist, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has devised a means to use genetically engineered viruses to serve as templates for the synthesis of submicroscopic conductors and semiconductors. In her most recent work, she has genetically modified viruses to interact with solutions of inorganic semiconductors, yielding self-assembling metal films and wires with diameters in the low tens of nanometers.

DeRisi
Joseph DeRisi, 35, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, develops new technologies for exploring the complex, interdependent pathways regulating gene expression. He extends the impact of recent advances in DNA sequencing by examining not just the population of genes within a cell, but also their interactions that lead to complex behaviors. DeRisi has also demonstrated the power of microarrays for rapid characterization of unknown viral strains; he and colleagues used this method to identify and characterize a novel coronavirus responsible for the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in early 2003. By enhancing methods for bulk measurement of gene activity and applying this technology to questions of vital biological and medical interest, DeRisi demonstrates the vast potential for discoveries in molecular genetics to decode the mysteries of cellular function and to advance the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Mootha
Vamsi Mootha, 33, assistant professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School and assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, studies mitochondria. Recently, Mootha and colleagues isolated peptide fragments from these organelles and identified them with mass spectroscopy. By comparing the protein fingerprints with gene expression databases, more than 100 previously unknown mitochondrial proteins were identified. He used a similar coordinated approach to identify the gene that causes Leigh Syndrome French Canadian variant, a fatal metabolic disease. In diseases resulting not from a single gene but the interaction of sets of genes, Mootha introduced a computational method for identifying patterns of gene activity in specific diseases.

Theriot
Julie Theriot, 36, assistant professor of biochemistry, microbiology, and immunology at Stanford University, is unraveling the secrets of bacterial infection. Her research focuses on the mechanism of bacterial propulsion, specifically on the role of the structural protein actin. In early publications, Theriot showed how bacteria can commandeer the normal role of actin within the cell by inducing the formation of long bundles of actin filaments that resemble the tail of a comet. These actin bundles then propel the attached bacterium forward. Theriot designed several experimental protocols that allow for detailed analysis of the biomechanics of this process.
 
     
  Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2004
 


 
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