Laura L. Kiessling
Novartis Professor of Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue; 18-598
Cambridge, MA 02139
[email protected]
Admin: Erin Erhart [email protected]; (617) 258-8567
Professor Kiessling received an Sc.B. degree in chemistry at MIT, where she performed undergraduate research in organic synthesis with Professor Bill Roush. She received a Ph.D. degree in chemistry at Yale University for her research with Stuart L. Schreiber. She was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow with Peter B. Dervan at California Institute of Technology. She then joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she became the Steenbock Professor of Chemistry, the Laurens Anderson Professor of Biochemistry, and the Director of the Keck Center for Chemical Genomics. In 2017, she returned to MIT as the Novartis Professor of Chemistry.
Professor Kiessling is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Philosophical Society, and National Academy of Sciences. She is the founding Editor-In-Chief of the journal ACS Chemical Biology . She is an author of over 140 peer-reviewed journal articles, and an inventor on more than 28 US patents. She has advised approximately 100 graduate students and postdoctorates. Alumni from her research group are contributing through their positions as faculty members of distinguished research universities, medical schools, and colleges and as research scientists at innovative start-up companies, leading corporations, and government laboratories.
Honors & Awards
Centenary Prize, Royal Society of Chemistry – 2019
Amar G. Bose Research Grant, MIT – 2019
Tetrahedron Prize – 2018
Gibbs Medal, Chicago Chapter of the ACS – 2016
Vilas Distinguished Faculty Award, UW-Madison – 2016
Alexander M. Cruickshank Award – 2015
Kavli Lecturer, American Chemical Society Meeting – 2015
Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry – 2014
Albert Hofmann Award, University of Zurich – 2013
Murray S. Goodman Memorial Prize, Biological Division of the ACS – 2013
Claude S. Hudson Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry – 2013
Steenbock Professor of Chemistry – 2012
James W. Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award – 2011
ACS Fellowship – 2010
Guggenheim Fellowship – 2008
Member, Wisconsin Academy of the Arts and Sciences – 2008
Wilbur Cross Award, Yale University – 2008
Vilas Associate Award, University of Wisconsin–Madison – 2008
Member, National Academy of Sciences – 2007
Member, American Academy of Microbiology – 2007
Francis P.Garvan–John M. Olin Award, American Chemical Society – 2007
Technology Achievement Award, MIT Club of Wisconsin – 2007
Harrison Howe Award, Rochester Section of the American Chemical Society – 2006
Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in Bioorganic or Medicinal Chemistry – 2005
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences – 2003
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science – 2002
Carbohydrate Research Award for Creativity in Carbohydrate Chemistry – 2001
H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, UW-Madison – 2001
Horace Isbell Award, Carbohydrate Division of the American Chemical Society – 2000
MacArthur Foundation Fellowship – 1999-04
Lake Mills, Wisconsin Distinguished Alumni – 1999
American Chemical Society, Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award – 1999
Dowd Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA – 1999
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship – 1997-99
Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award – 1996-01
Zeneca Excellence in Chemistry Award – 1996
American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Award – 1995-97
Beckman Young Investigator Award 1994-96
National Science Foundation, National Young Investigator Award – 1994-99
Shaw Scientist Award – 1992-97
Procter and Gamble University Exploratory Research Award – 1992-95
Dow Chemicals New Faculty Award – 1992
American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship – 1989-91
Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society – 1981
Phi Lambda Upsilon Honorary Chemical Society – 1980
Bausch and Lomb Science Award – 1978
