Astellas USA Awards for 2007 Presented

THREE GRANTS of $30,000 each, funded by the Astellas USA Foundation's Astellas Awards Program, were presented by ACS President Bruce E. Bursten at the ACS national meeting in Philadelphia. The awards honor "individuals or teams who exemplify the criterion of having significantly contributed to scientific research that improved public health through their contributions in the chemical and related sciences." The following researchers are awardees for 2007:

Harold (Barry) Dellinger, professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University, holds the Patrick F. Taylor Chair and is the director of the Louisiana State University Intercollege Environmental Cooperative. He has served as a member of the Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board and on numerous governmental and industrial advisory panels. His research interests include the origin and control of toxic combustion by-products, the sources and health impacts of environmentally persistent free radicals, the formation and properties of combustion-generated nanoparticles, the surface and gas-phase mechanisms and kinetics of the formation of dioxins and other air pollutants, and the thermal treatment of hazardous wastes.

Shahriar Mobashery is the Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He is a world-renowned expert in antibiotic resistance and enzyme inhibitors. His research interests encompass studies of mechanisms of resistance to antibiotics and the means to circumvent them, the development of complex antibiotics, studies of the mechanism of action of these antibiotics, and investigations of complex microbial systems such as the outer membrane and the cell wall. In addition, Mobashery and his research group are interested in the molecular mechanism of cancer metastasis and its intervention by rational design of molecules that interfere with the growth and spread of tumors.

Esther S. Takeuchi is a professor in the departments of chemical and biological engineering and electrical engineering and the director of the Advanced Power Sources Laboratory at the State University of New York, Buffalo. A main focus of her research is the development of power sources for implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs).

More than 90% of ICDs implanted today still use the lithium/silver vanadium oxide technology developed by Takeuchi and colleagues at Greatbatch, in Clarence, N.Y. At Greatbatch, where she worked for 22 years, Takeuchi held a variety of positions, including chief scientist and executive director of battery research and development and centers of excellence.