ACS Approves New National Award

The ACS Board Committee on Grants & Awards has approved a new ACS national award. The inaugural George & Christine Sosnovsky Award for Cancer Research will be given out in 2012 and every other year thereafter. The award honors “outstanding achievements in the elucidation of the chemical and biochemical pathways underlying human cancers, leading to the discovery and development of improved cancer therapeutics.” A 53-year member of ACS, George Sosnovsky is establishing an endowment to fund the award.

Sosnovsky’s research has covered a wide range of topics, including R&D of fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides; amidine derivatives as antiradiation agents; free radical chemistry; oxidative phosphorylation reactions; and the synthesis of spin-labeled phosphorus compounds of biological interest, including anticancer agents. More recently, his interests have focused on medicinal chemistry, specifically the structure-activity relationships of anticancer drugs and biological evaluations of new anticancer drugs. He has also worked on the synthesis of contrast-enhancing agents for diagnostic purposes.

His wife, H. Christine Sosnovsky, passed away in 2008. Her research focused on surface chemistry and physics. Specifically, she investigated the properties of metals and semiconductors, polycrystalline and single-crystal organic solids, and thin films. She also studied the effects of crystal orientation, surface structure, and lattice defects on the catalytic properties of solids.

Nominations for the 2012 award are due on Nov. 1. For more information on this and other ACS national awards, visit www.acs.org/awards.