Prized Science

‪Did you know that storms can carry dust particles, or particulate matter, all the way around the globe? Particulate matter makes up a significant portion of the atmosphere and has wide-ranging effects on human health, solar radiation and greenhouse gases. Vicki Grassian, winner of the ACS Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology, helps scientists better understand the complex and wide ranging behavior of dust particles. Vicki's work paints a clearer picture of atmospheric chemistry and the role particulate matter plays in the environment. Just like her subject, her research has global reach.

‪Chad Mirkin, Ph.D., the 2012 winner of the American Chemical Society's Award for Creative Invention, is well known for his work on the Verigene System, which can provide patient diagnostics at the point of care. Instead of sending tests or samples out to labs -- a potentially time consuming process -- this tool can diagnose diseases on site at hospitals or in the doctor's office. By improving the speed and accuracy of diagnostics, doctors able to treat diseases more quickly and effectively. Working in the nano scale, Mirkin uses gold particles to create promising new medical diagnostic tools that could lead to future cancer treatments and ways to track and treat diseases at earlier stages.

‪The first episode of the 2012 season of Prized Science highlights the work of Robert Langer, Institute Professor at MIT. His influential research on tissue engineering and controlled drug release earned him the 2012 American Chemical Society Priestley Medal, the highest honor given by the world's largest scientific society.

‪This episode features a team of scientists at the Xerox Corporation, including Patricia Burns, Ph.D., Grazyna Kmiecik-Lawrynowicz, Ph.D., Chieh-Min Cheng, Ph.D., and Tie Hwee Ng, Ph.D. They invented a “super-toner,” a revolutionary new ink for copiers and laser printers that reduces emissions of carbon dioxide in toner production and produces higher-quality color images more economically. The American Chemical Society selected them as recipients of its 2011 ACS Award for Team Innovation, sponsored by ACS Corporation Associates.

‪This episode features Jeffery C. Bricker, Ph.D., winner of the 2011 ACS Award for Creative Invention sponsored by the ACS Corporation Associates. Bricker's pioneering work helped produce catalysts that are key ingredients in cleaner detergents and gasoline. One of Bricker's catalysts also significantly reduced the cost of producing styrene and polypropylene, two of the most widely used plastics in the world.

This episode features John A. Lowe, III, Ph.D., winner of the 2011 ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Division of Business Development and Management and the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. It highlights Lowe’s advances that led to the development of a schizophrenia drug with fewer side effects and a drug that relieves nausea and vomiting in patients on cancer chemotherapy.

This episode features David Craik, Ph.D., winner of the American Chemical Society’s 2011 Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry. It highlights Craik's advances toward new drugs for treating health problems that affect millions of people around the world, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria and AIDS.

This episode features Ahmed Zewail, Ph.D., winner of the American Chemical Society’s 2011 Priestley Medal, the highest honor from the world’s largest scientific society. It highlights Zewail's development of technology that’s paving the way for new medicines, new fuels, new materials that will give people longer, healthier, happier lives.

Red tides are phenomena in which certain pigmented algae ― toxic algae ― undergo population explosions. Health officials ban fishing for oysters, shrimp and other shellfish ― if they detect a red tide. If not, unsuspecting consumers get hit with a virtual tidal wave called neurotoxic shellfish or paralytic shellfish poisoning. That may change thanks to the research of Michael Crimmins, a scientist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. His work focuses on brevetoxin A ― the poison in neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. For that research, the American Chemical Society awarded Crimmins its 2010 Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products.

Computer chips are the brains of modern electronics and the lifeblood of modern society. Meet Robert Miller, winner of the 2010 American Chemical Society Award for Chemistry of Materials. As a chemist at IBM, Miller developed materials that helped pack more transistors onto each chip, paving the way for the electronics products that make everyday life longer, healthier, happier, and more enjoyable.