IMB Group Leader Professor David Craik has received the American Peptide Society’s 2015 Vincent du Vigneaud Award.
The award recognises outstanding achievements in peptide research and scientific excellence at mid-career and will be presented at the 24th American Peptide Symposium this June.
Professor Craik said he was delighted and honored to receive the award.
“This award reflects the dedication and hard work of a talented group of PhD students, research assistants and postdoctoral fellows I have had the pleasure of working with over many years,” he said.
Professor Craik’s research focuses on peptides in drug design, and on toxins, including conotoxins.
His group has a particular focus on structural studies of disulfide-rich proteins, and on the discovery and applications of cyclic peptides and novel peptide topologies.
“Our research discovers and determines structural information on peptides and proteins to design drugs to treat human disease more effectively, and develop natural protein-based insecticides to protect Australian food and fibre crops,” he said.
The award is named in honor of Dr. Vincent du Vigneaud, winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was the first person to isolate and synthesize two polypeptide hormones, vasopressin and oxytocin.
Contact: Kate Sullivan, IMB Communications, 07 3346 2155, communications@imb.uq.edu.au.
