The 6000 members of the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry share the goal of using chemistry to develop a better understanding of biological processes, and to harness these processes for the common good. The objectives of the Division are to promote knowledge and research in the field of biological chemistry and to foster healthy relationships between our discipline and other branches of science.

New Award

The ACS Chemical Biology Lectureship

ACS Chemical Biology and the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry are pleased to announce a new annual lectureship to honor the contributions of an individual who has had a major impact on scientific research in the area of Chemical Biology. The inaugural award will be presented at the 239th ACS National Meeting held March 21–25, 2010, in San Francisco.

The lectureship will be administered jointly by the Editor-in-Chief of ACS Chemical Biology, Laura L. Kiessling (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry. The award will consist of a specially designed lectureship hosted by the Division of Biological Chemistry, a cash award, a plaque, and travel expenses to the meeting. A symposium honoring the awardee will consist of three invited speakers, a short award presentation, followed by the award lecture.

Nominators should send the curriculum vitae of the candidate, a letter explaining the special achievements of the candidate in Chemical Biology, and at least two additional letters of support. All materials should be sent as a single .pdf file to the Secretary of the Division of Biological Chemistry. The selection committee consists of three individuals who were jointly chosen by the Editor-in-Chief of ACS Chemical Biology and the Chair of the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry.

Deadline: June 1, 2009

All materials should be sent to:

Martha G. Oakley
Indiana University
Department of Chemistry
800 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405-7102

oakley@indiana.edu.
Use on subject line for EMAIL message: DBC Awards

Message from the Chair John Blanchard - What Do I Do Now?

In the last two years, as Chair-elect under Carol Fierke, I have had the opportunity to see what the Chair does, at least from a comfortable distance with minimal responsibility. First of all, I am now responsible for writing these newsletters. Twice each year I will organize a Divisional meeting at the Spring and Fall ACS meetings where Program chairs discuss their upcoming meeting preparations, and finances and Divisional issues are discussed. The Division, under Carol’s leadership, has provided the visionary leadership characteristic our recent Chairs in an effort to implement and establish new programs to benefit our members. The Division of Biological Chemistry is very much on the right track as a result of these recent discussions and actions. An increasing number of our members consider the Division to be their scientific home base. We have dealt concretely with important issues concerning Division finances, instituted a program at the National Spring ACS meeting, established new lectureships sponsored by the ACS journals Biochemistry and ACS Chemical Biology, completely updated our web-site, and for the first time conducted our elections over the web. Our overriding aim has been the recruitment of young members through the opening of new avenues for their participation in Divisions affairs.

There is much more that might be done retain and build our membership. We need to increase the cooperation with the Divisions of Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Computational Chemistry and the provisional Division of Catalysis, particularly in the area of program planning. We should explore the implementation web-based presentations of our Program content. We should expand our Spring program, and vigorously support other venues at which our members present their research. Finally we should work to establish new awards to recognize the accomplishment of our members.

In the last two years, I have had the opportunity to attend National ACS-sponsored meetings where issues of Divisional Leadership and Priorities were discussed. While I believe that our Division has never been in better shape, I have frankly expressed my concerns about how our membership could continue to afford to send their graduate students and postdoctoral research associates to National meetings when the cost of such trips now exceeds $1,500 for registration, travel, hotel accommodations and per diems. There is not a single member of our Division, whether in academia or industry, who does not feel a certain financial unease in these trying times. Major pharmaceutical companies have announced large layoffs of their Research and Development staff. The NIH has suffered through four years of reduced support for basic, biomedical research, and percentile scores for funding have plummeted from about 25 percentile as recently as three years ago to less than 10 percentile in some institutes. Even given that the meeting was held before the largest of the stock market’s most recent disastrous dislocations, this is a time of substantial concern to the various Divisions, including our own.

There are a number of possible solutions, but all require money. The ACS might be able to help by negotiating more favorable room rates with major hotel chains or making arrangements with the major air carriers to offer discounted airfare to meetings. Could the allotments from the National organization to the Divisions be increased with the specific purpose of supporting or assisting student/research associate travel for those presenting posters? Should the ACS’s 160,000 members from all walks of the chemical sciences, be spending more of its time lobbying Congress for increased support of the NSF and NIH, and less on fighting open access policies for its journals? There are certainly things that I as Chair can suggest. Should our dues be increased a few dollars per year, with all of the increased revenue being used to support junior scientist travel? Can we do more to increase our membership and thus our dues base? Can we increase co-sponsorship to take advantage of the new allotment rules? Can we do more to provide real and substantial benefits to our membership via web-based symposia presentations? I do not know the answers to these questions, but will work with the Divisional officers and councilors to try to find solutions.

I strongly encourage all members of the Division to join the ACS’s Legislative Alert Network (LAN), which provides a mechanism to voice your support to your Senators and Representatives for support for important biomedical funding in the HHS funding bill. I can only hope that with the new change in our national leadership, a more sympathetic, and nonpartisan, ear toward science may reside inside the Beltway.

ACS National Meeting

The 238th ACS Meeting, August 16 - 20, 2009, Washington, DC

The ACS Division of Biological Chemistry will organize a program of talks and posters for the ACS Fall National Meeting in Wahington DC.

Read more about the Spring ACS meeting

Final Spring Program (pdf)

Division Awards for 2009

The Gordon Hammes ACS Biochemistry Lectureship

Dr. William Eaton, Chief, Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry

Scott K. Silverman, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois. For outstanding research in biological chemistry of unusual merit and independence of thought and originality.

Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry

Professor Virginia W. Cornish, Department of Chemistry, Columbia University. For outstanding work in enzyme chemistry where the presence of enzyme action is unequivocally demonstrated.

Repligen Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes

Frank M. Raushel, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University. For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the chemistry of biological processes with particular emphasis on structure, function and mechanism.

Read about the award recipients. (PDF)

Award Nominations for 2010

Nominations are requested for the year 2010 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, and the Repligen Corporation Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes. A nominator should send the curriculum vitae of the candidate with a list of publications and a letter explaining the special achievements of the candidate. Additional letters of support for the specific candidate are desirable. All materials should be sent to Martha Oakley (oakley@indiana.edu) by June 1, 2009.

• Learn more about the award process and past recipients

Travel Awards to attend the Fall ACS meeting at Washington DC

Information about these Travel Awards and an award application can be found near the bottom of the Awards section of this website.