UC San Diego Chemical Biology Professor Named Guggenheim Fellow

April 15, 2019 | By Cynthia Dillon

Professor Neal Devaraj. Photo courtesy of Erik Jepsen

The 2018 Blavatnik National Laureate in Chemistry and the 2019 Eli Lilly Award winner in Biological Chemistry, Neal Devaraj, has added another esteemed award to his list. This time it’s a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship. The professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego is one of 168 scholars, artists and writers chosen as a fellow by the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for prior achievement and exceptional promise in their respective fields.

Devaraj’s main research focus is understanding how simple organic molecules assemble to form life. His quest has led to the development of approaches for selectively synthesizing cell membranes by stringing together lipid fragments. He and members of his team in the Devaraj Group created the first perpetually self-producing lipid vesicles as well as artificial membranes capable of remodeling their chemical structure. Recently, his lab demonstrated that in-situ synthesis can assemble lipid species within living cells, enabling studies that decipher how lipid structure affects cellular function.

“It is an incredible honor,” said Devaraj. “Receiving this award will further enable our work on developing synthetic cells, and it encourages my team to continue taking risks as we pursue ambitious projects at the interface of chemistry and biology.”

Devaraj and the other fellows were selected from a group of nearly 3,000 applicants in the Guggenheim Foundation’s 95^th competition. Among the 2019 fellows, 49 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields are represented, as are 75 different institutions, 28 states and the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces. This year’s class of fellows also range in age from 29 to 85.

Neal Devaraj works with a student in his lab at UC San Diego. Photo by Michelle Fredricks, UC San Diego Physical Sciences

“It’s exceptionally satisfying to name 168 new Guggenheim Fellows. These artists and writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best,” said Edward Hirsch, president of the foundation.  “Each year since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has bet everything on the individual, and we’re thrilled to continue to do so with this wonderfully talented and diverse group. It’s an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do.”

Among his inventory of honors, Devaraj has also been recognized for his work with the 2016 National Fresenius Award and the 2017 American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry. His contributions to teaching have not gone unnoticed either, with a 2016 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

The Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1925 and since then it has granted more than $360 million in fellowships to more than 18,000 individuals, among whom are scores of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, poets laureate, members of the various national academies, and winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Turing Award, National Book Award and other significant, internationally recognized honors.

The Guggenheim Fellowship program is a significant source of support for artists, writers and scholars in the humanities and social sciences, and scientific researchers. For more information on the fellows and their projects, visit the foundation’s website.