The University of Chicago Department of Chemistry is pleased to announce that Yamuna Krishnan has been named the Louis Block Professor of Chemistry and the College.
According the announcement from the Physical Science Division:
Krishnan is a groundbreaking chemist who crafts tiny “machines” out of DNA that can be used to monitor and explore how cells work at the microscopic level. Such knowledge can help us better understand diseases and disorders, develop drug targets, and check whether a drug is reaching its intended target in a cell. She investigates the structure and dynamics of nucleic acids, nucleic acid nanotechnology, cellular and subcellular technologies.
She has received numerous awards, including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the Infosys Prize for Physical Sciences, the Sun Pharma award for Basic Medical Sciences and the Bhatnagar Award for Chemical Sciences and the Scientific Innovations Award from the Brain Research Foundation. She has been named one of Lo Spazio Della Politica’s Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2014 and to research journal Cell Press’s “40 Under 40.”
“When I got the email from President Alivisatos it said: Congratulations. So I nearly deleted it thinking it was some spam,” joked Professor Krishnan. “When I read it I thought it was one of my students playing a practical joke and started to guess who it might be. When I saw the President and Provosts signatures in the attached letter was when it started to hit home that it might not be a joke.”
Once the shock of the news had passed, Professor Krishnan was able to take stock, saying, “I felt happy to realize that the University values what my research group does. Each one of us Professors thinks that our own research work is interesting and exciting (because otherwise why would we be doing it), but when the community that you regard most highly also feels that way, well, one feels happy that one's work is understood and appreciated. I’m fortunate to be in such a scholarly environment, with students and postdocs who are brilliant and driven - all accolades go to my group.”