Bruce Ganem Wins Esselen Award

Bruce Ganem, Franz & Elisabeth Roessler Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University, is the winner of the 2012 Esselen Award for Chemistry, presented by the ACS Northeastern Section in honor of outstanding scientific achievement that contributes to the public well-being and communicates positive values of the chemical profession. The award consists of a medal and a $5,000 cash prize.

Ganem was cited for his contributions to the synthesis of novel pharmaceuticals as well as for his research on glycobiology. His lab developed methods for the synthesis of shape-specific nitrogen analogs of sugars, termed iminosugars, which recently led to a new class of small-molecule, orally active therapeutic agents used in treating genetically inherited disorders of glycosphingolipid metabolism. Some iminosugars are also being developed as pharmacological chaperones to correct the misfolding of mutant proteins.

The Esselen Award honors the memory of Gustavus John Esselen, a past-chair of the Northeastern Section and founder of Esselen Research.