Award lectures
Award lectures
Celebrate those who mentor and inspire us. Join us for talks by recipients of ASBMB’s annual awards to find out what drives their success and how their work creates new opportunities for us all.
Herbert Tabor Research Award
- Margaret Phillips
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Phillips is renowned for her groundbreaking work on the parasitic protozoan pathogens responsible for malaria and sleeping sickness. With a focus on deciphering and disrupting pathways for production of pyrimidines, polyamines and purines in these pathogens, her work has advanced understanding of the biochemistry of parasites and identified new drug targets for these critical tropical diseases.
This award recognizes Philips for outstanding, innovative accomplishments in biological chemistry and molecular biology and contributions to the community of scientists.
ASBMB DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences
- Eytan Ruppin
- National Cancer Institute
While applying his expertise in predictive modeling to cancer metabolism, Ruppin came across synthetic lethality, a concept that has become important for cancer treatment. That work garnered him this award in 2023. Today, his lab uses insights into interactions between drug targets and cancer genomic events to try to predict how individual cancer patients will respond to specific treatments.
This award recognizes Ruppin for accessible and innovative developments or applications of computation to enhance research in the life sciences at the molecular or cellular level.
ASBMB Mildred Cohn Young Investigator Award
- Nozomi Ando
- Cornell University
Ando develops new structural biology methods to untangle allostery — the relationship between motion and function in proteins. With a background in physics, Ando has rapidly become a world leader in X-ray scattering methods. Her visionary research lays the groundwork for animating crystal structures with biochemically relevant motions and is seen as the future of crystallography and X-ray diffraction.
This award recognizes Ando for outstanding research contributions to biochemistry and molecular biology.
ASBMB Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award
- Shana Stoddard
- Rhodes College
Stoddard is celebrated for her impactful work fostering access and support for underrepresented communities in STEM. In addition to advancing her own research on protein structures and small peptides, Stoddard provides students with high-impact research experiences — such as computational studies in which intro-level chemistry students generated leads on COVID-19 treatments within months of the pandemic’s emergence — and creates inclusive learning environments to change the face of STEM.
This award honors Stoddard’s sustained commitment to breaking down local and/or systemic barriers against scientists and students from historically marginalized or excluded groups.
ASBMB Sustained Leadership Award
- Adele Wolfson
- Wellesley College
Wolfson is recognized as a thought leader in STEM teaching and learning and a role model for aspiring leaders in biochemistry and molecular biology. She has empowered and inspired generations of emerging women scientists, educators and leaders through her teaching and scholarship on how students learn, her service in developing the ASBMB’s undergraduate biochemistry accreditation program and the scientific contributions of her research on peptidases and steroid action.
This award recognizes Wolfson’s commitment to advancing the careers of women in biochemistry and molecular biology along with demonstrated excellence in research and/or service.
ASBMB William C. Rose Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education
- Peter Kennelly
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Known as a creative, approachable and inclusive leader in biochemistry education, Kennelly has been influential in cultivating a robust community of practice for scientist‒educators in biochemistry and molecular biology. Through his service and leadership of the ASBMB Education and Professional Development Committee and Membership Committee, he played a pivotal role in launching the ASBMB accreditation program and certification exam and other initiatives with enduring impacts for the future of our field.
This award honors Kennelly’s exceptional contributions to the teaching of biochemistry and molecular biology.
Avanti Award in Lipids
- Tamás Balla
- National Institutes of Health
Balla has markedly advanced understanding of lipids as platforms for intracellular signals. Combining cutting-edge cell-imaging technology with elegant biochemical and chemical‒genetic approaches, he has pioneered the use of fluorescence phosphoinositide biosensors to visualize and manipulate phosphoinositide signaling in living cells. His work has been highly influential in shaping how lipid biologists understand the functioning of phosphoinositides in subcellular organelles and at membrane contact sites.
This award recognizes Balla for outstanding research contributions in the area of lipids.
Bert and Natalie Vallee Award in Biomedical Science
- Hao Wu
- Harvard Medical School
Wu’s research has revolutionized understanding of signal transduction by revealing the organizational importance of signalosomes as effector platforms. Using cryo-electron microscopy and other biophysical methods to identify the molecular complexes involved in innate immunity and cell death, her work has had a major impact on the field by providing a mechanistic basis for the propagation of critical intracellular signals.
This award recognizes Wu for outstanding accomplishments in basic biomedical research.
Earl and Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Award
- Bruce Stillman
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Stillman is celebrated for his pioneering work elucidating the process by which DNA is copied within cells before they divide. For over 40 years, he has led the field in forging new methodologies and avenues of exploration in eukaryotic DNA replication, transitioning from linear to circular viruses and later into yeast and human cells to identify cellular proteins involved in DNA synthesis and the mechanisms behind the initiation of DNA replication.
This award honors Stillman for outstanding achievement in basic research in the fields encompassed by the ASBMB.
The Alice and C. C. Wang Award in Molecular Parasitology
- David Roos
- University of Pennsylvania
Roos enables the day-to-day work of countless scientists through his creation of VEuPathDB.org (the Eukaryotic Pathogen, Vector and Host Informatics Resource) and other databases that have become invaluable resources for the research community. His mark on the field is evident not only in the ubiquity of these resources but in his scientific achievements in probing the biochemistry, cell biology, molecular genetics, genomics, evolutionary biology and host interactions of the protozoan parasites behind toxoplasmosis and malaria.
This award honors Roos for seminal contributions to the field of molecular parasitology.
Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipid Research
- Judith Simcox
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
Simcox’s ambitious studies of plasma lipids that regulate metabolic disease have established her as an emerging leader in the field of lipid metabolism. Using lipidomics, genetics and cellular and molecular biology techniques to decipher how lipids function, her lab is poised to transform the field through mechanistic assessment of cross-tissue communication through lipid signaling. She is also celebrated for her exemplary leadership and vision for increasing diversity in science.
This award recognizes Simcox’s outstanding research contributions in the area of lipids as a young investigator.
ASBMB’s annual awards recognize exceptional scientists at all career stages. Learn more about our awards program.