Jennifer Ann Prescher is an American chemist who is a professor of chemistry at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

. Her research considers the development of bioorthogonal, bioluminescent tools for the noninvasive, real-time imaging of immunometabolism. She was recognized with the 2023 American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award.

Early life and education

Prescher was an undergraduate in chemistry at the

University of Wisconsin–La Crosse The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (UWL or UW Lax) is a public university in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Established in 1909, it is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. With 9,600 un ...

. She moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

as a doctoral researcher, and was appointed to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow, where she worked with

Carolyn Bertozzi Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi (born October 10, 1966) is an American chemist and Nobel laureate, known for her wide-ranging work spanning both chemistry and biology. She coined the term "bioorthogonal chemistry" for chemical reactions compatible with ...

on glycosylation. She developed a strategy to visualize the glycosylation process, which allowed for the design and development of novel diagnostics. The strategy relied upon the use of bioorthogonal chemistries. Specifically, she showed that it was possible to incorporate metabolic precursor sugars with specific chemical functionalities into target glycans. For example, biologically inert azides can be incorporated into glycans and chemically modified with exogenously delivered probes.

Research and career

In 2008, she joined Stanford University as a Susan Komen

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. Prescher joined the

in 2010, and was made a full professor in 2018. Her early work looked to design imaging techniques to better understand cell movements and metastatic disease. She worked on bioluminescent tools; tools which luminesce when they come into close proximity to cancer cells. She called the technique a biological flashlight, or phasor.

Awards and honors

* 2014 Kavli Fellow * 2014

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...

* 2015

Sloan Research Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

* 2015

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

early career award in

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, ...

* 2016

Thieme Medical Publishers Thieme Medical Publishers is a German medical and science publisher in the Thieme Publishing Group. It produces professional journals, textbooks, atlases, monographs and reference books in both German and English covering a variety of medical ...

chemistry journal award * 2016

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Women in Chemistry Rising Star * 2016

distinguished

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

award for research * 2018 Scialog Fellow * 2021

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...

Distinguished Investigator * 2023 American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award

Selected publications

* ''A Comparative Study of Bioorthogonal Reactions with Azides'' * ''A strain-promoted + 2azide-alkyne cycloaddition for covalent modification of biomolecules in living systems'' * ''Chemistry in living systems''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prescher, Jennifer Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American chemists University of California, Irvine faculty University of Wisconsin–La Crosse alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni