UBC chemist named to prestigious US fellowship

UBC chemical biologist Katherine Ryan, an expert in natural product molecules, has been named an Alfred P Sloan fellow. The fellowships honour early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars.

Ryan’s research investigates how complex organic molecules, such as antibiotics, are assembled by bacteria.

“These are among the most chemically complex and medicinally relevant molecules ever isolated,” says Ryan. “The goal of my group is to employ genomics, biochemistry, organic chemistry and structural biology to understand how these molecules are assembled.”

The research could be used to engineer the molecular machinery used to make these natural products. Such engineered machinery could produce new molecules, which could be developed into new medicines.

“The Sloan Fellowship will allow me to support outstanding young trainees in my group – graduate students and postdocs – who will work with me to elucidate how new natural product molecules are assembled,” says Ryan.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant-making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr, then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economics.