Akos Vertes is a Hungarian-American professor of

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

at the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

and a Doctor of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

Early life and career

Vertes was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary. He graduated from the Veres Pálné Gimnázium in 1971 and then got his B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from the

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

in 1974 and 1979 respectively. In 1979 he was appointed research associate at the Hungarian Central Research Institute for Physics and in 1987 was promoted to senior research associate; from 1986 to 1989 he served as its Deputy Head. Until 1991 was an assistant professor at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. In 1991 he immigrated to the United States and was hired by the

as an associate professor of Analytical chemistry. and was promoted to professor in 2000 and to Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2003. In 1997 he became Deputy Chair of its Department of Chemistry. In 2002 he founded the W. M. Keck Institute for Proteomics Technology and Applications in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and became co-director. From 2003 to 2008 he also worked as an adjunct professor at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

. In 2014 Akos led GWU's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences team to investigate chemical and biological threats.

Research and inventions

In 2008 Akos Vertes had worked with Peter Nemes to develop a laser ablation electrospray ionization, a miniature version of the previous lasers requiring only a desk-sized space in the lab. Four years later this technology, which in the future became known as the LAESI-DP 1000 Direct Ionization System, was ranked as one of the 100 most technologically significant products of 2012 by the ''R&D Magazine'' and was ranked top 10 invention by '' The Scientist''. In 2009 Vertes and colleagues developed a new technology called matrix-assisted laser analytical ionization or MALDI. In 2012 he worked with Genia Photonics to develop a laser that can detect

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

s and illegal drugs. In 2015 he had created a nano-device called REDIchip capable to detect materials that are made up of as little as 100,000 molecules.

Awards

*2007 – Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize *2012 – Hillebrand Award *2013 – Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vertes, Akos 20th-century births Living people American molecular biologists Hungarian biochemists Eötvös Loránd University alumni Columbian College of Arts and Sciences faculty George Washington University faculty Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Budapest 20th-century American biochemists 21st-century American biochemists Year of birth missing (living people) Hungarian emigrants to the United States