Celebrating our UofG world changers
Nobel Prize winner
Glasgow graduate Professor David MacMillan is one of the recipients of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The James S McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University shares the award with Benjamin List of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences presented the pair with the prize “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”. Their discovery has helped make chemical processes more environmentally friendly and underpinned new methods of drug discovery.
David is the fifth Nobel laureate in Chemistry associated with the University, after Sir William Ramsay, Frederick Soddy, Sir Alexander Robertus Todd and Sir Derek Barton.
Look out for the Avenue interview with David in the spring 2022 issue of Avenue.
Emerging Leaders Prize winner
Dr Antonia Ho, of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, has been announced as a winner of the Medical Research Foundation’s 2021 Emerging Leaders Prize, receiving £100,000.
At the start of the pandemic, Dr Ho rapidly transferred her skills and knowledge of flu to lead COVID-19 studies in Malawi and the UK. She identified widespread community transmission in healthcare workers and community members in Malawi during the first wave, resulting in a change in Malawi’s national testing policy. In addition, as a co-investigator and patient recruitment lead for one of the largest studies of hospitalised COVID-19 patients worldwide, Dr Ho generated an easy-to-use score that can accurately predict the risk of death in hospitalised COVID-19 patients, helping doctors make crucial clinical decisions. This tool has been incorporated into national policy and has been shown to accurately predict COVID-19 deaths in seven other countries.
Future Leaders Fellowships
Three academics have been awarded prestigious fellowships which support world-class research and innovation leaders. The Future Leaders Fellowships from UK Research & Innovation support talented people in universities, businesses, and other research and innovation environments. Awardees will each receive between £400,000 and £1.5 million over an initial four years to support challenging and novel projects, and the development of the fellow’s career.
- Dr Emily Draper from the School of Chemistry focuses on the development and understanding of responsive soft materials. Her interdisciplinary work focuses on understanding and tailoring the self-assembly of small organic molecules to make supramolecular materials for flexible organic electronics, medical devices, and chromic materials. Her research uses a combination of techniques such as electrochemistry, rheology, small angle neutron scattering and NMR to monitor and understand this self-assembly and responsive behaviour.
- Dr Christopher Moxon from the Institute of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation focuses his research on cerebral malaria pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions in malaria using multi-model technologies. In particular, he is interested in brain swelling in cerebral malaria with a view to identifying treatment targets.
- Dr Bernhard Reinsberg from the School of Social & Political Sciences has been awarded his Fellowship for his project ‘Earmarked funding and the effectiveness of international organisations’. Together with two postdoctoral research associates, he will examine whether and how recent changes in the funding structures of international organisations affect the performance of these organisations in addressing global development challenges.
Recognition for top engineer
Professor Margaret Lucas of the James Watt School of Engineering has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Over the course of her career, Professor Lucas has gained worldwide recognition for her research in applying high-power ultrasound to solve industrial and medical problems. She has extended the use of ultrasound to such areas as soft and hard tissue surgeries, manufacturing, and drilling technologies for terrestrial and planetary exploration, generating significant engineering impact. The Fellowship also recognises her commitment to enhancing the engineering academic environment and widening participation.
Medal for malaria expert
Professor Andy Waters of the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology has been awarded the coveted Royal Society of Edinburgh Sir James Black Medal. The highly prestigious medal recognises exceptional achievement in science, academia and public engagement. Professor Waters is a global authority in malaria research, a disease that remains one of the major threats to humankind. His outputs have included world-leading research observations in tropical medicine and health in an illustrious academic career spanning more than four decades.