Laura Lee Kiessling (born 21 September 1960) is an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

and the Novartis Professor of Chemistry at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Kiessling's research focuses on elucidating and exploiting interactions on the cell surface, especially those mediated by

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

s binding to

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

s. Multivalent protein-carbohydrate interactions play roles in cell-cell recognition and signal transduction. Understanding and manipulating these interactions provides tools to study biological processes and design therapeutic treatments. Kiessling's interdisciplinary research combines organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, structural biology, and molecular and cell biology.

Education

Kiessling earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the

in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1989. At Yale, she worked with

Stuart Schreiber Stuart L. Schreiber (born 6 February 1956) is a scientist at Harvard University and co-Founder of the Broad Institute. He has been active in chemical biology, especially the use of small molecules as probes of biology and medicine. Small molecul ...

to synthesize and study small molecules as probes of biological function. After earning her PhD, Kiessling spent two years at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, where she worked with Peter B. Dervan to study DNA recognition and cleavage.

Career

In 1991, Kiessling joined the faculty of the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, where she became the Steenbock Professor of Chemistry and the Laurens Anderson Professor of Biochemistry. While at UW-Madison, Kiessling also became the Director of the Keck Center for Chemical Genomics and 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 ...

Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program. In 2017, she moved to the

as the Novartis Professor of Chemistry. as well as the editor-in-chief of ACS Chemical Biology. Kiessling's contributions span the fields of organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, and molecular biology. She has made contributions to the synthesis and study of many biologically active molecules, including

glycosyl donor A glycosyl donor is a carbohydrate mono- or oligosaccharide that will react with a suitable glycosyl acceptor to form a new glycosidic bond. By convention, the donor is the member of this pair that contains the resulting anomeric carbon of the new g ...

s, modified

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. ...

s, and

glycopolymer Glycopolymer is synthetic polymer with pendant carbohydrates. Glycopolymers play an important role in many biological recognition events such as cell–cell adhesion, development of new tissues and infectious behavior of virus and bacteria. They hav ...

s. Kiessling's research has used these molecules to probe cell recognition and signal transduction processes (Figure 1). Her research has shown that multivalent ligands (molecules that possess multiple binding groups) can influence receptor-ligand binding mechanisms, activate signaling, and target specific immune responses. These discoveries have potential applications in targeted

immunotherapy Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

and disease treatment. Kiessling has received a number of awards and honors in recognition of her research. She received a

MacArthur Foundation Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

(popularly called the "MacArthur genius grant") in 1999. In 2007, Kiessling was inducted as a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and in 2017, she received the Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry. Kiessling is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and the

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 ...

, as well as an elected member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, and

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

. Since 2005, she has served as the founding editor-in-chief of ACS Chemical Biology. Kiessling is also the cofounder of Quintessence Biosciences, a company that is working to translate her technological advances into cures for various diseases. She has been selected as one of the fifty top research and development "Stars to Watch" by ''Industry Week''.

Selected honors and awards

* 2022 Elected Member,

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

* 2019

Centenary Prize The Centenary Prize is an award granted annually by the United Kingdom-based Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) to up to three "outstanding chemists, who are also exceptional communicators, from overseas". The prize, established in 1947, and fir ...

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Instit ...

*2017 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry *2017 Elected Member,

*2016

Willard Gibbs Award The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor ...

, Chicago Section of the

*2014 ACS Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic and Bioorganic Chemistry *2010 Fellow,

*2008 Guggenheim Fellowship *2007 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences *2007 Elected Member,

*2007 Garvan–Olin Medal,

*2003 Elected Member,

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

*2003 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science *1999–2004 John D. and Catherine T.

*1999 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award

References

External links

"Laura L. Kiessling", ''Scientific Commons''Quintessence Biosciences, Inc.The Kiessling Lab websiteChemistry-Biology Interface Training Program
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiessling, Laura L American women biochemists Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Yale University alumni MacArthur Fellows Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American women chemists 21st-century American women scientists 1960 births Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from Lake Mills, Wisconsin Academic journal editors Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology American women academics