Prized Science 2013: Episode 1 - ‪Peter Stang: Building Molecules‬

This episode features Ahmed Zewail, Ph.D., winner of the American Chemical Society’s 2011 Priestley Medal, the highest honor from the world’s largest scientific society. It highlights Zewail's development of technology that’s paving the way for new medicines, new fuels, new materials that will give people longer, healthier, happier lives.

Imagine creating something completely new — something improbable and provocative that has never existed on Earth before. This kind of unconventional science is the focus of Gregory H. Robinson, Ph.D., winner of the 2013 F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry. The Cotton Award recognizes Robinson’s success harnessing finicky, unstable elements.

Computer chips are the brains of modern electronics and the lifeblood of modern society. Meet Robert Miller, winner of the 2010 American Chemical Society Award for Chemistry of Materials. As a chemist at IBM, Miller developed materials that helped pack more transistors onto each chip, paving the way for the electronics products that make everyday life longer, healthier, happier, and more enjoyable.

The engineering feat that enables a device to jolt a dangerously misbehaving heart back to its normal rhythm and save millions of lives is featured in our last Prized Science episode of 2013. The video features renowned inventor Esther S. Takeuchi, Ph.D., this year's winner of the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. The award recognizes Takeuchi's work on a battery that powers implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). These devices monitor patients' heartbeats continuously. When the beats go haywire, it can deliver a life-saving shock to help the heart resume a normal rhythm.

Red tides are phenomena in which certain pigmented algae ― toxic algae ― undergo population explosions. Health officials ban fishing for oysters, shrimp and other shellfish ― if they detect a red tide. If not, unsuspecting consumers get hit with a virtual tidal wave called neurotoxic shellfish or paralytic shellfish poisoning. That may change thanks to the research of Michael Crimmins, a scientist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. His work focuses on brevetoxin A ― the poison in neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. For that research, the American Chemical Society awarded Crimmins its 2010 Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products.

A group of nanoparticles called “GUMBOS” is as varied as their culinary namesake implies, with a wide range of potential applications from cancer therapy tosensors. Isiah Warner, Ph.D., won the ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry for his work on GUMBOS and other innovative research.

Stephen J. Lippard is the winner of the 2014 American Chemical Society Priestley Medal, the highest honor given by ACS. Lippard helped create the field of bioinorganic chemistry, which explores the crucial role of metals in biology. His work also led to a better understanding of the mechanism of cisplatin — sometimes termed "the penicillin of cancer" for its wide-ranging effects — and opened the door to efforts to develop more effective anti-cancer medications.

Tim M. Swager is the 2013 winner of the ACS Award for Creative Invention for his work on the world’s most sensitive explosive detector to date. Known as FIDO, the handheld detector has been used to detect roadside bombs in Iraq, as well as homeland security operations and in airport security.

Peter Stang is the winner of the 2013 American Chemical Society Priestley Medal, the highest honor given by ACS, for his work building new molecules via “self-assembly," an approach inspired by nature. The molecules created by Stang's group could being used in medicines that exclusively target cancer cells, in chemical sensors that detect explosives and other promising applications‪.‬ ‪

‪The first episode of the 2012 season of Prized Science highlights the work of Robert Langer, Institute Professor at MIT. His influential research on tissue engineering and controlled drug release earned him the 2012 American Chemical Society Priestley Medal, the highest honor given by the world's largest scientific society.