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K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D.,W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute Barry Sharpless, Ph.D., received his B.S. degree from Dartmouth College and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He completed post-doctoral studies with J.P. Collman at Stanford and with Konrad Bloch at Harvard. In 1970, Dr. Sharpless was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For several years in the 1970s, Dr. Sharpless was a member of Stanford’s Chemistry faculty, subsequently returning to MIT, where he remained until 1990. At that time, he joined the faculty of the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), where today he is the W. M. Keck Professor of Chemistry and a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology. In 2001, Dr. Sharpless shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with William S. Knowles and Ryoji Noyori for their work on chemical synthesis reactions. His Nobel Prize citation says, many scientists have identified Sharpless’s epoxidation [discovered with Tsutomu Kastsuki in 1980] as the most important discovery in the field of synthesis during the past few decades. Today, Dr. Sharpless continues to pursue new methods for selectively controlling chemical reactions. A recent advance is Click Chemistry a set of powerful, selective reactions that enable the rapid synthesis of new compounds. Click chemistry is an integral part of research in Dr. Sharpless’s lab at TSRI and has provided a foundation for numerous collaborations with biologists at TSRI and at other leading research organizations. | 