4 4 / 2022 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Leopoldina member Carolyn Bertozzi
The biochemist receives the award together with Morten Meldal and K . Barry Sharpless
Image : Andrew Brodhead | Stanford University
The US-American biochemist Carolyn R . Bertozzi , a member of the Leopoldina since 2008 , will be awarded this year ’ s Nobel Prize in Chemistry . Bertozzi receives the award jointly with Morten Meldal ( Denmark ) and K . Barry Sharpless ( USA ) for the development of click chemistry and for major contributions to bioorthogonal chemistry .
Carolyn Bertozzi is considered to be a pioneer of glycobiochemistry . Her focus is the function of glycans on cell surfaces . These sugar residues play an important role in the communication and metabolism of cells and they change in case of disease . In order to be able to observe this in living cells , Bertozzi has established a new field of research in the form of bioorthogonal chemistry . With her interest in glycans she has entered a little-explored field of science . Presumably a large proportion of all proteins are glycosylated .
“ Carolyn Bertozzi has taken click chemistry to a new level .”
Gerald Haug ML President of the Leopoldina
Bertozzi aims to understand the role that these sugars play in biological processes and how glycosylation patterns change as a person ages or in the case of disease . On this basis , methods can be developed for the early detection and treatment of cancers , infectious diseas- es or autoimmune diseases . Until now , there were no methods by which these molecules could be specifically observed . By means of the bioorthogonal chemistry developed by Bertozzi , this is now possible . Molecules in living cells can be chemically modified so that they can be observed .
The President of the Leopoldina , Gerald Haug , congratulates the American researcher : “ Carolyn R . Bertozzi has taken click chemistry to a new level . It can be used to study diseases such as cancer in a completely new way . She has now been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this ground-breaking research .”
■ JK , AB
Carolyn R . Bertozzi