Waters AAAS Fellow
Professor, Marcey Waters, is being honored for her fundamen-
tal studies of molecular recognition in water and its role in bio-
molecular recognition, with application to epigenetic regulation,
which encompasses the factors that control gene expression.
Waters is the Glen H. Elder, Jr. Distinguished Professor of chem-
istry and vice chair for education, as well as the current pres-
ident of the American Peptide Society. She was the principal
investigator on a study, backed by a $1M grant from the W.M.
Keck Foundation, of protein methylation, which is a mechanism
of epigenetic regulation implicated in many diseases, including
cancer. - Congratulations, Marcey!
Li NIH Awardee
Bo Li, an Assistant Professor has received a New Innovator
Award from the National Institutes of Health, NIH. Li focuses
her research on bioactive small molcules produced by bacteria
and the ways in which they may help defend the human body
against infectious diseases.
Her lab is dedicated to unlocking the hidden chemistry of bacte-
rial genomes and discovering the next generation of antibiotics,
and the New Innovator Award will support research to identify
novel combinations of antibiotics that exert synergistic activity
against multidrug-resistant bacteria. Li is a previous winner of
a Packard Fellowship and an NSF Career Award.
Achievement Award
Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and
Biophysics, Gary Pielak, has been awarded the prestigious 2017
University Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement. The Univer-
sity Committee on Teaching Awards found abundant evidence
of Dr. Pielak’s outstanding contributions to teaching.
Both his students and faculty colleagues were enthusiastic in
their praise of his continuing commitment to the highest stan-
dards of teaching and to education in general, and commend-
ed him for having provided a “rich, supportive environment for
higher learning and an exceptionally positive role model which
all of us honor with this award.”
Professor Pielak, far left, and his research group.
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