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Professor Rod Jones and Dr Gonçalo Bernardes from the Department of Chemistry have been honoured in the Royal Society of Chemistry's 2016 awards.

Professor Jones has been given the John Jeyes Award for chemistry in relation to the environment.

The aim of Jones’ research is to understand the processes controlling the structure and chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and how atmospheric composition relates to human activities. His investigations range from the global impact of changes in the stratospheric ozone layer and climate to highly localised studies of street level air pollution and its impact on human health.

Jones commented: “I am honoured and excited to receive the 2016 Royal Society of Chemistry John Jeyes Award, the more so because I am aware of the many outstanding scientists active in the extraordinarily broad spectrum of environmental science as well as the standing of past recipients of this prestigious award. I feel that this award is an acknowledgement of the vital importance of monitoring and assessing changes in the Earth’s atmosphere, and of the need to innovate as new challenges arise. I am delighted to have the opportunity to show some highlights of my past and current groups’ research during the lecture tour.”

Dr Bernardes has been awarded the Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize, which is awarded for the most meritorious and promising original investigations in chemistry and published results of those investigations. The prizes are named after Edward Harrison and Raphael Meldola, commemorating their contributions to chemistry.

Bernardes directs a research program at the interface of chemistry and biology, at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on ways to modify proteins for potential use in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Proteins consist of long strings of amino acids, and the order and identity of these amino acids, and the way the proteins then arrange themselves into 3D structures, are key to how they work in the body. Bernardes’ work develops reactions that can alter individual amino acids to make the proteins behave in useful ways.

He said: “I am delighted to have been selected to receive the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2016 Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize. This award provides a valued recognition of our work, and a strong motivation to continue developing innovative chemical approaches to study unmet biological questions and to build novel drug conjugates that are more selective, safe and efficient to treat cancer. In addition, this award also provides a great opportunity to disseminate to the broader chemical and biological community the impact of our recent discoveries.”

Dr Robert Parker, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry said: “It is an honour to recognise the illustrious achievements of our prize and award winners in our 175th anniversary year."

Date awarded

09 May 2016

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