Skip to content ↓

Awards and Honors

Alexander Rich, the William Thompson Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics, received the 2002 Institute of Human Virology (IHV) Lifetime Achievement Award last month at the organzation's international meeting in Baltimore. Long recognized as a pre-eminent researcher in structural molecular biology, Rich is best known for his discovery of left-handed DNA, or Z-DNA, and the three-dimensional structures of transfer RNA. "This award is given to a senior scientist who has a dramatic impact on biomedical science that affects all of us at the IHV," said Dr. Robert C. Gallo, director of the Institute and co-discoverer of the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

Douglas A. Lauffenburger, the Uncas and Helen Whitaker Professor of Bioengineering in the Biological Engineering Division, chemical engineering department and biology department, received the William H. Walker Award for Excellence in Contributions to Chemical Engineering Literature from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was cited for "intellectual leadership in combining chemical engineering with molecular cell biology, and for developing innovative biotechnologies based on molecular- and cell-level design principles."

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 9, 2002.

Related Topics

More MIT News

Headshot of Catherine Wolfram

A delicate dance

Professor of applied economics Catherine Wolfram balances global energy demands and the pressing need for decarbonization.

Read full story