News and Highlights
From the Chemistry Department
Jonathan Sessler Receives Supramolecular Chemistry Award
Congratulations to Professor Jonathan Sessler, recipient of the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Supramolecular Chemistry Award. He will be honored and give a plenary lecture at the Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry Meeting in Nottingham, UK, in December.Jonathan Sessler Awarded Mond-Nyholm Prize for Inorganic Chemistry
Professor Jonathan Sessler is the 2022 recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Mond-Nyholm Prize for Inorganic Chemistry in recogition of his pioneering work on f-element complexes of expanded porphyrins. The Mond-Nyholm Prize for Inorganic Chemistry recognizes outstanding contributions to the chemical sciences in the area of ino...Promising Drug Candidate Licensed to Cancer Therapeutics Company
AuraTEX, a gold-based cancer drug developed by University of Texas at Austin researchers, has been licensed exclusively to OncoTex Inc., a cancer therapeutics company. In 2020, UT Austin chemists Jonathan Sessler and Jonathan Araumbula (now CEO of OncoTex), published a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society showing that AuraTex preve...Sessler's Work Featured in C&ENews Molecule of the Year
Professor Jonathan Sessler's work is recognized by C&ENews in their eagerly-anticipated 2020 Molecule of the Year competition. If you see this gigantic 2-D metallo-supramolecular assembly flying your way, be sure to duck.Jonathan Sessler Receives Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry
Professor Jonathan Sessler is the 2021 recipient of the Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, sponsored by the Ronald Breslow Award Endowment. The award, administered by the American Chemical Society, recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of biomimetic chemistry. Sessler will be honored at an award...Jonathan Sessler Receives Career Research Excellence Award
Professor Jonathan Sessler is the recipient of the 2019 Co-op Career Research Excellence Award from the Office of the Vice President for Research. The award recognizes a faculty member or staff researcher who has maintained a superior research program across many years. The award is accompanied by a check in the amount of $10,000.Jonathan Sessler Named American Chemical Society Fellow
Professor Jonathan Sessler has been named a 2019 American Chemical Society Fellow. The fellows program began in 2008 to recognize members of ACS for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession, and the Society. Professor Sessler and the other 2019 Class of ACS Fellows will be honored at the society's national ...Jonathan Sessler Receives Thomas Dougherty Award for Excellence in Photodynamic Therapy
Professor Jonathan Sessler received the Thomas Dougherty Award for Excellence in Photodynamic Therapy at the 10th International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (ICPP-10) in Munich, Germany organized by the Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (SPP). The lifetime acheivement award was presented by Professors Dirk Guldi (Friedrich-...Chemists Create First Bicyclic Aromatic Compound
An international team of researchers including UT Austin chemist Jonathan Sessler has created the first compound that exhibits bicyclic aromaticity in its ground state. These types of compounds had been theorized decades ago but had remained elusive until now. The authors speculate that these compounds “may have a role to play in extending the fron...Researchers Develop New Tool for Green Chemistry
Chemists from The University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University have developed an environmentally friendly method for creating chemical structures with complex shapes like those found in living things. The results have implications for reducing toxic waste in chemical manufacturing and research, understanding basic biological processes a...Company Founded by Jonathan Sessler Sold for $21 Billion
Pharmacyclics, a pharmaceutical company co-founded in 1991 by Professor Jonathan Sessler and physician Dr. Richard Miller, has been purchased by AbbVie for $21 billion. Read more about Pharmacyclics and Dr. Sessler's cancer research.Jonathan Sessler Awarded CPRIT Grant
On November 19, 2014 Professor Jonathan L. Sessler of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin was awarded a $1.46M Bridging the Gap: Early Translational Research Award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) for the "Pre-IND Development of OxaliTex." He will lead a team consisting of Drs....Jonathan Sessler to receive the 2014 MSMLG Award
Jonathan Sessler, will receive the 2014 MSMLG Award at the 4th International Conference on Molecular Sensors and Molecular Logic Gates (MSMLG2014), to be held in Shanghai, China, from 9-12th November. Professor Sessler is the Associate Editor for ChemComm, a Royal Society of Chemistry journal. For more information on the conference a...Sessler and collaborators develop molecule that makes cancer self-destruct
Professor Jonathan Sessler and collaborators at five other institutions have created a molecule that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by ferrying sodium and chloride ions into the cancer cells. These synthetic ion transporters, described this week in the journal Nature Chemistry, confirm a two-decades-old hypothesis that could point th...Changxia Yuan Receives Reaxys PhD Prize
Dr. Changxia Yuan, a Spring 2013 graduate and former member of the Siegel Group, is a recipient of the 2014 Reaxys PhD Prize. The Reaxys PhD prize is awarded for original and innovative research in synthetic chemistry, which demonstrates excellence in methodology and approach by a candidate currently studying for a PhD or having comp...Jonathan Sessler Receives 2013 ACS Southwest Regional Award
Congratulations to Professor Jonathan Sessler for receiving the 2013 American Chemical Society Southwest Regional Award. The award recognizes a person who, during a period of residence in the Southwest Region of the ACS, has made meritorious contributions to the advancement of chemistry, chemical engineering, chemical education, either pure or appl...Jonathan Sessler wins Molecular Sensors and Molecular Logic Gates Award
Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Sessler who has been selected to receive the 2nd annual Molecular Sensors and Molecular Logic Gates Award. The award will be presented at a symposium in Shanghai, China in 2013.Professor Jonathan Sessler awarded Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize
Professor Jonathan Sessler has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Centenary Prize. Sessler will be invited to a symposium held in his honor and presented with an RSC medal. The Centenary Prizes are awarded to outstanding chemists, who are also exceptional communicators, from overseas to give lectures in the British Isles.
