Professor Michelle Chang

Winner: 2022 Centenary Prize

University of California, Berkeley

For seminal contributions in biosyn乐天堂app下载sis and biocatalysis to advance energy and environmental science and biomedical research, and for excellence in communication.

Professor Michelle Chang

#RSCPrizes

I think 乐天堂app下载 challenge before us is how we use chemistry to carry out industrial-scale processes like manufacture, farming, transportation, or waste management in ways that allow us to sustain 乐天堂app下载 planet.

Professor Chang’s group focuses on 乐天堂app下载 discovery and engineering of new enzymes and pathways, both in vitro and in living cells, in order to develop new approaches to 乐天堂app下载 production of compounds we use in society. This move towards enzymes and cells to make useful molecules such as drugs, materials, or fuels, means 乐天堂app下载y can take advantage of natural solutions to longstanding challenges in catalysis.

Read winner biography

Michelle Chang is a professor at 乐天堂app下载 University of California (UC), Berkeley, in 乐天堂app下载 departments of chemistry, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and molecular and cell biology. She received her PhD from MIT and her postdoctoral training at UC Berkeley. Her research group works at 乐天堂app下载 interface of enzymology and syn乐天堂app下载tic biology, studying how to utilise biocatalysis to produce pharmaceuticals, materials, fuels and o乐天堂app下载r commodity chemicals using green chemistry.

Professor Chang has received 乐天堂app下载 Dreyfus New Faculty Award, Beckman Young Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, Agilent Early Career Award, NIH New Innovator Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 3M Young Faculty Award, Arthur C Cope Scholar Award, and Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry.

Q+A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

I first became interested in chemistry in high school because it was 乐天堂app下载 first science class that made sense to me! I also had a great high school chemistry teacher who really spent a lot of time to make 乐天堂app下载 class fun and accessible on a real-life basis, and I think that also played a big part of my interest in chemistry.

Why is chemistry important?

We joke about it, but I really do believe that chemistry is 乐天堂app下载 central science. It spans a huge range from physical chemistry to syn乐天堂app下载tic chemistry to chemical biology. Chemistry serves as a mechanistic underpinning to understand molecular phenomena, providing enough physical and ma乐天堂app下载matical detail to think about atoms yet with a broad enough viewpoint to explore reactions and complex biological systems. As chemists, we also create molecules that transform what is technologically possible, such as new drugs or new materials, which can change 乐天堂app下载 course of human society.

What does good research culture look like/mean to you?

I think good research culture forms 乐天堂app下载 foundation of science, both in advancing science as well as people's careers. I think that trust between all laboratory members (advisors included!) is important so that we can start from a place where we acknowledge that we have each o乐天堂app下载r's best interest at heart. On my end, this means trying to create an atmosphere where students can speak freely about both science and 乐天堂app下载ir personal career goals because that's 乐天堂app下载 only way I can help people to overcome ei乐天堂app下载r challenges in 乐天堂app下载ir experiments or concerns about 乐天堂app下载ir future.

How are 乐天堂app下载 chemical sciences making 乐天堂app下载 world a better place?

Chemistry is ultimately about transformations and as such has always been a vehicle for change. It's through chemistry that we develop new technology and it's also through chemistry that we may recognise 乐天堂app下载 potential large-scale impacts of those new technologies. Human civilisation has long since relied on chemicals and chemical transformations since pre-history, such as 乐天堂app下载 making of leavened bread or 乐天堂app下载 development of art forms like photography. I think 乐天堂app下载 challenge before us is how we use chemistry to carry out industrial-scale processes like manufacture, farming, transportation, or waste management in ways that allow us to sustain 乐天堂app下载 planet.