News Release
November 19, 2018
Karen Tiano +1 978 495 0093
- Twelve student finalists awarded in three fields: bioseparations, food & beverage safety and tumor biology
- Grand prize winners Yu Cai, University of Colorado; Yanqi Qu, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Jun Ho Lee, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, each awarded $10,000
Burlington, Massachusetts, November 19, 2018 — MilliporeSigma recognized three graduate students who have demonstrated innovation in life science at an awards ceremony at the company’s global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany recently.
Twelve finalists from across the globe (four in each of three awards categories: bioseparations, food & beverage safety, and tumor biology) presented their research to an audience of MilliporeSigma scientists, and guests as part of the 2018 Life Science Awards. Yu Cai, Yanqi Qu and Jun Ho Lee were each named winners of the $10,000 grand prize in their respective categories.
“This year’s Life Science Award winners generated new insights into areas of deep interest to the applied sciences,” said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. “Each winner is not only a good scientist, they are curiously solving the toughest problems in life science,” he added.
Following is a list of the grand prize winners and their research topics:
- Yu Cai, University of Colorado, “Real-time observations of nanoparticles in filtration membranes,” bioseparations winner.
- Yanqi Qu, University of Massachusetts Amherst, “Safety and quality analysis of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages using surface-enhanced Raman scattering,” food and beverage safety winner.
- Jun Ho Lee, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, “TonEBP promotes hepatocellular carcinoma development, therapeutic resistance and recurrence via inflammation and liver cancer stem cells,” tumor biology winner.
Finalists receiving $2,000 prizes were:
Bioseparations
- Daniel Burgstaller, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, “Flocculation assisted primary separation and product capture by precipitation – How do we get it continuous?”
- Ashton Lavoie, North Carolina State University, “Mixed-mode peptide ligands for improved clearance of CHO host cell proteins.”
- Ujwal Patil, University of Houston, “Real-time monitoring of antibody in column breakthrough.”
Food & Beverage Safety
- Imanuel Yüce, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, “Development of in situ and in silico tools as well as improvement of classical techniques for structure elucidation in planar chromatography.”
- Anna Sophia Harrand, Cornell University, “Effects of strain diversity and growth conditions on subsequent bacterial growth.”
- Shaoakang Zhang, University of Georgia, “Whole genome sequencing, a one-stop platform for foodborne pathogen subtyping, characterization and detection.”
Tumor Biology
- Jan Lumibao, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign, “Functional capacity of CHCHD2 in glioblastoma cells expressing EGFRvIII.”
- Christina Mertens, Goethe-University Frankfurt, “Role of lipocalin-2 from tumor-associated macrophages as alternative iron transporter during tumor growth.”
- Silvia Duarte Sanmiguel, Ohio State University, “Nanotechnology-based approaches towards elucidating and modulating the immunology of the tumor niche.”
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The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 20,000 employees and 60 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has five businesses – Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Life Science and Performance Materials – and generated sales of €15.3 billion in 2017. Almost 53,000 employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company – since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70 percent interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. The company holds the global rights to the name and the trademark “Merck” internationally except for the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.