Five individuals and two teams from the University of Oxford have received prestigious prizes from the Royal Society of Chemistry today.
The Research and Innovation Prizes celebrate brilliant individuals across industry and academia.
The Horizon Prizes celebrate the most exciting, contemporary chemical science at the cutting edge of research and innovation. They are for teams or collaborations who are opening up new directions and possibilities in their field, through ground-breaking scientific developments.
- Dr Emily Flashman from the Department of Chemistry has won the RSC's Norman Heatley Award.
- Professor Volker Deringer from the Department of Chemistry has won the RSC Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize.
- Professor Laura Herz from the Department of Physics has won the RSC Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Mid-career Award.
- Professor Peter Bruce from the Department of Materials has won the RSC Longstaff Prize.
- Professor Timothy Donohoe, from the Department of Chemistry, has won the RSC Tilden Prize.
- The Molecular Flow Sensor Team, based at the Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG), has been named the winner of the RSC's Analytical Division Horizon Prize.
- Team Nanobodies, led by The Rosalind Franklin Institute in Oxford and with collaborators from across the world has been named the winner of the RSC's Chemistry Biology Interface Division Horizon Prize.
Team winners spotlight
Dr Helen Pain, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: 'Some of the most incredible work in chemical science is carried out by teams and collaborations who use their diversity of thought, experience and skills to deliver astonishing results. These synergies are often at the very forefront of expanding our understanding of the world around us, and why our judges have such a difficult job selecting winners for our Horizon Prizes.'
Molecular Flow Sensor team - Analytical Division Horizon Prize
The Molecular Flow Sensor Team, a multidisciplinary team which is a collaboration between chemists, physiologists, computer modellers, clinicians at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, won the prize for the development of a novel device for lung function measurement: a molecular flow sensor for non-invasive breath analysis to provide measurements of respiratory disease and cardiac output.
Kevin Valentine, who led the electronic development of the sensor at the Department of Chemistry, said: 'Designing the Molecular Flow Sensor has been really rewarding. To see the work carried out over many years by Professor Gus Hancock and Professor Grant Ritchie develop into a real-world application with the potential to help many people shows the importance of this type of research.'
This sensor has been used as a tool in several respiratory medical studies, including measuring the lung function of asthma and cystic fibrosis sufferers as well as for investigations into long Covid. All the results so far point to the effectiveness of the sensor in early diagnosis and management of lung disease.
Team Nanobodies - Chemistry Biology Interface Division Horizon Prize
Based across The Rosalind Franklin Institute, the University of Oxford, Diamond Light Source, Public Health England, and the University of Liverpool, Team Nanobodies has won a Horizon Prize for the development of tools to help fight Covid-19.
Team Nanobodies' research has shown that nanobodies - a smaller, simple form of antibody generated by llamas and camels - can effectively target the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. They found that short chains of the molecules, which can be produced in large quantities in the laboratory, significantly reduced signs of the Covid-19 disease when administered to infected animal models.
