Three individuals were recognized by the Human Proteome Organization during its World Congress this week for their contributions to proteomics research. Donald Hunt, a professor in chemistry and pathology at the University of Virginia, received HUPO’s Distinguished Achievement Award in Proteomics for his work in developing new instrumentation and methods for characterizing proteins and small molecules by mass spectrometry. Hunt was the first person to develop and apply tandem mass spectrometry for protein sequencing.
Mathias Uhlen, a professor of microbiology at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, also was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award in Proteomics. Among other things, Uhlen cloned and characterized the staphylococcal protein A. His group also described a new principle for affinity reagents called affibodies and showed their use as a research tool and more recently as potential cancer therapeutics.
Finally, Catherine Fenselau, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland, was given the Distinguished Service Award for her research during the past 25 years on mass spectrometry and its application to pharmacology and biochemistry. Fensleau is a past president of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry.