Carolyn Bertozzi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carolyn Bertozzi
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Bertozzi in 2022
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Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi
October 10, 1966 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Education | |
| Known for | Bioorthogonal chemistry |
| Relatives | Andrea Bertozzi (sister) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
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| Thesis | Synthesis and biological activity of carbon-linked glycosides (1993) |
| Doctoral advisor | Mark D. Bednarski |
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Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi (born October 10, 1966) is an American chemist and Nobel Prize winner. She is famous for her work that combines both chemistry and biology. She even created the term "bioorthogonal chemistry" for special chemical reactions that can happen inside living things without harming them.
Her recent work involves creating chemical tools to study sugars on the surface of cells, called glycans. She researches how these sugars affect diseases like cancer, inflammation, and viral infections such as COVID-19. Dr. Bertozzi works at Stanford University and is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). She used to be the director of the Molecular Foundry, a research center that studies tiny materials called nanomaterials. Since 2024, she has been a scientific advisor for the Arc Institute.
Dr. Bertozzi received the MacArthur "genius" award when she was 33. In 2010, she was the first woman to win the important Lemelson–MIT Prize for faculty. She is a member of several important scientific groups, including the National Academy of Sciences (since 2005). In 2014, she began leading ACS Central Science, a science journal that shares all its articles for free. She is a role model for many students and scientists.
In 2022, Carolyn Bertozzi won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She shared the award with Morten P. Meldal and Karl Barry Sharpless. They won for developing "click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry."
Contents
Becoming a Scientist
Early Education and Interests
Carolyn Bertozzi earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts, in chemistry from Harvard University. She graduated with high honors. While at Harvard, she worked with Professor Joe Grabowski. They designed and built a special device called a photoacoustic calorimeter. Professor Grabowski was very impressed with her work. He asked her to write a thesis about it, and she won an award for her excellent paper.
During her time at Harvard, she also played in several bands. One band, Bored of Education, included Tom Morello, who later became a famous guitarist for the band Rage Against the Machine. After graduating from Harvard in 1988, she worked at Bell Labs.
Graduate Studies and Discoveries
Dr. Bertozzi completed her Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. She worked with Mark Bednarski, focusing on making oligosaccharide analogs. These are like copies of complex sugars. While studying at Berkeley, she made an important discovery: viruses can attach to sugars in the human body. This discovery led her to a new field of research called glycobiology, which is the study of sugars in living systems.
During her third year of graduate school, her advisor, Mark Bednarski, became ill. This meant Dr. Bertozzi and other students had to finish their Ph.D. work without direct supervision.
Career and Research Highlights
Early Research and Bioorthogonal Chemistry
After getting her Ph.D., Dr. Bertozzi became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). There, she studied how sugars on the surface of cells help cells stick together, especially during inflammation. While at UCSF, she learned how to change the protein and sugar molecules on the walls of living cells. This allowed the cells to accept foreign materials, like medical implants.
In 1996, Dr. Bertozzi joined the faculty at the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry. She also became a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she directed the Molecular Foundry. She has been an investigator with HHMI since 2000. In 1999, she started the field of bioorthogonal chemistry, and she named it in 2003. This new method allows scientists to chemically change molecules inside living organisms without stopping the cell's normal processes. In 2015, Dr. Bertozzi moved to Stanford University.
Understanding Sugars and Diseases
Dr. Bertozzi studies the role of glycobiology in diseases like cancer, inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, and infectious diseases like tuberculosis. She has greatly improved our understanding of cell surface oligosaccharides. These sugars are important for how cells recognize each other and communicate.
She has used bioorthogonal chemistry to study the glycocalyx, which is the sugar coating around cell membranes. Her discoveries have helped advance new treatments based on biology. Her lab has also created new tools for research. For example, they developed chemical tools to study glycans in living systems. Her lab's work on nanotechnologies led to a quick test for tuberculosis in 2018. In 2017, she gave a TED talk at Stanford. She explained how sugars on cancer cells help them hide from the body's immune system.
Biotechnology Companies
Dr. Bertozzi has helped start several biotechnology companies. These companies use science to create new medicines and tools.
- In 2001, she co-founded Thios Pharmaceuticals. This company aimed to develop medicines by targeting specific chemical pathways. It closed in 2005.
- In 2008, she started Redwood Bioscience. This company developed a technology called SMARTag. It helps attach small drugs to specific spots on proteins, which can be used to fight cancers. Redwood Bioscience was bought by Catalent Pharma Solutions in 2014. Dr. Bertozzi still advises them.
- In 2014, she co-founded Enable Biosciences. This company creates home diagnostic tests for diseases like type 1 diabetes and HIV.
- In 2015, she co-founded Palleon Pharma. This company researches new ways to treat cancer by looking at how the immune system interacts with sugars.
- In 2017, she helped start InterVenn Biosciences. This company uses advanced technology and artificial intelligence to study proteins with sugars attached. This helps find new ways to diagnose and treat diseases, including ovarian cancer.
- In 2018, she co-founded the Grace Science Foundation. This foundation works to find a cure for NGLY1 deficiency, a rare genetic disorder.
- In 2019, she co-founded OliLux Biosciences and Lycia Therapeutics. OliLux Biosciences develops new ways to detect tuberculosis. Lycia Therapeutics focuses on new molecules called LYTACs, which might help treat heart disease and cancer.
Dr. Bertozzi has also advised several large pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly. Since 2021, she has been on the scientific advisory board of Colossal Biosciences.
Awards and Recognition
Carolyn Bertozzi has received many awards and honors for her groundbreaking work:
- 1999 – MacArthur Fellowship (often called the "genius grant")
- 2001 – ACS Award in Pure Chemistry
- 2005 – Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2007 – LGBTQ Scientist of the Year Award
- 2010 – Lemelson–MIT Prize (first woman to receive this faculty award)
- 2012 – Heinrich Wieland Prize
- 2018 – Foreign Member of the Royal Society
- 2020 – Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize
- 2022 – Wolf Prize in Chemistry
- 2022 – Dickson Prize in Medicine
- 2022 – Welch Award in Chemistry
- 2022 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 2023 – Roger Adams Award
- 2024 – Priestley Medal, the highest award given by the American Chemical Society
Personal Life
Carolyn Bertozzi grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her parents were Norma Gloria and William Bertozzi. Her father was a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her sister, Andrea Bertozzi, is also a scientist, a mathematics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Because their father was a physics professor, Carolyn and her sisters grew up surrounded by science. They all wanted to be nuclear physicists when they were young! Their father hoped they would attend MIT. However, Carolyn chose to go to Harvard because it offered strengths in many subjects, not just science.
For a short time, Dr. Bertozzi thought about a career in music. In high school, she won awards for her music compositions and playing the keyboard. She even received offers to be a music major in university rock bands. But she always felt that science was her true calling.
See also
In Spanish: Carolyn R. Bertozzi para niños
