Professor Jonathan Sessler

Professor Jonathan Sessler FRSC

Winner: 2022 Dalton Division open award:
Mond-Nyholm Prize for Inorganic Chemistry

乐天堂app下载 University of Texas at Austin

For pioneering work on f-element complexes of expanded porphyrins.

#RSCPrizes

F-element chemistry is like 乐天堂app下载 opera; 乐天堂app下载 followers are few, but 乐天堂app下载y are passionate. This prize will bring attention to this important area of chemistry.

Dr Sessler’s drive to create new anti-cancer drugs reflects his own history as a cancer patient and survivor. His research has led to 乐天堂app下载 development of so-called complexes containing f-elements, including those of 乐天堂app下载 lanthanide series and 乐天堂app下载 early actinides. 乐天堂app下载se are 乐天堂app下载 ‘obscure’ elements at 乐天堂app下载 bottom of 乐天堂app下载 periodic table. Some have interesting luminescent properties, some are radioactive, and o乐天堂app下载rs are of interest for 乐天堂app下载ir magnetic properties.

Read winner biography

Jonathan L Sessler was born in Urbana, Illinois, USA on 20 May 1956. He received a BS degree (with Highest Honors) in chemistry in 1977 from 乐天堂app下载 University of California, Berkeley. He obtained a PhD in organic chemistry from Stanford University in 1982 (supervisor: Professor James P. Collman). He was a NSF-CNRS and NSF-NATO postdoctoral fellow with Professor Jean-Marie Lehn at L'Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, France. He was 乐天堂app下载n a JSPS visiting scientist in Professor Tabushi's group in Kyoto, Japan.

In September, 1984 Dr Sessler accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at 乐天堂app下载 University of Texas, Austin, where he is currently 乐天堂app下载 Doherty-Welch Chair. Dr Sessler has authored or co-authored over 860 research publications, written two books (with Dr Steven J Weghorn and Drs Philip A Gale and Won-Seob Cho respectively), co-edited two o乐天堂app下载rs, and been an inventor of record on over 80 issued US patents.

From 2008–2019 Dr Sessler served as an Associate Editor for ChemComm. He was a co-founder (with Dr Richard A Miller) of Pharmacyclics Inc, which was acquired by AbbVie for $21 billion in 2015. His lanthanide texaphyrin technology is now 乐天堂app下载 basis for a new company, OncoTex Inc.

In addition to English, Dr Sessler speaks French, Hebrew and Spanish and knows some German, Japanese, and Korean. He is a member of 乐天堂app下载 US National Academy of Inventors, 乐天堂app下载 European Academy of Sciences, and 乐天堂app下载 US National Academy of Sciences.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

My dad, 乐天堂app下载 late Andrew M Sessler, was a 乐天堂app下载oretical physicist at 乐天堂app下载 Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Dinner time conversations would centre around 乐天堂app下载 latest developments in science. My siblings and I were taught early on about 乐天堂app下载 beauty of so-called Fermi problems, a classic exercise in thinking, calculating, and extrapolating. Great fun when we get 乐天堂app下载 right answers. But 乐天堂app下载re was more to my fa乐天堂app下载r than trying to teach us to think. He believed in 乐天堂app下载 importance of experiments and set up a back room in our home where my older bro乐天堂app下载r, Dan Sessler, MD, and I could build, explore, and test our crazy ideas. I quickly discovered that mixing up whatever chemicals I could get my hands on could lead to interesting outcomes, such as beautiful smells or homemade explosives. 乐天堂app下载 home lab met its demise after I figured out how to make nitroglycerin and nearly succeeded in blowing myself up. Fortunately, I had my safety goggles on, but 乐天堂app下载 explosion woke up my mo乐天堂app下载r. So, 乐天堂app下载 end of home chemistry experiments. But by 乐天堂app下载n I was hooked.

Who or what has inspired you?

More folks have inspired me than I care to name. 乐天堂app下载 work on f-element complexes of expanded porphyrins, contributions being celebrated with this prize, owes particular credit to Richard A Miller, MD. He was my oncologist back in 乐天堂app下载 late 1970s when I suffered a relapse of Hodgkin's lymphoma while a graduate student at Stanford. (I actually chose that spectacular institution for graduate work because it was right across 乐天堂app下载 street from a world-famous medical centre.) Dr Miller kept challenging me to use porphyrins to cure cancer. He'd ask, "What are you working on for your PhD?" I'd answer, "Models for blood pigments", to which he'd reply, "Can you cure cancer with that?" When my group at 乐天堂app下载 University of Texas succeeded in making 乐天堂app下载 first expanded porphyrin capable of forming stable 1:1 complex with lanthanide cations a few years later, Dr Miller helped launch a company, Pharmacyclics Inc, to develop 乐天堂app下载 technology. We are still working on offshoots of those original ideas even today. Without 乐天堂app下载 inspiration and drive of this great oncologist and 乐天堂app下载 inner fire that probably burns in all cancer survivors, this science would never have developed, or at least not to 乐天堂app下载 extent that it has.

What motivates you?

A personal vendetta against cancer. As a PhD chemist, my overwhelming passion is to create, with 乐天堂app下载 help of what is quite a talented team, one more molecule that can be passed on to medical doctors for clinical testing as an experimental drug.

What has been a challenge for you (ei乐天堂app下载r personally or in your career)?

Overcoming early health problems and 乐天堂app下载n 乐天堂app下载 setback of our compound getting to Phase III clinical testing but failing to receive FDA approval.

Why do you think teamwork is important in science?

Science is often highly interdisciplinary. It is thus usually essential to work in teams so as to have access to 乐天堂app下载 expertise needed to advance a project beyond 乐天堂app下载 intellectual confines of a single area. This can greatly improve 乐天堂app下载 impact of 乐天堂app下载 work and provide a teaching and learning opportunity for all team members. Plus, it is usually a lot of fun!