The editors of Biopolymers are delighted to present the 2018 Murray Goodman Memorial Prize to Professor David N. Beratan in recognition of his seminal contributions to biophysics and their impact on our understanding of charge transport in biomolecules.
Inaugurated in 2007 in honor of the Biopolymers Founding Editor, the prize is awarded for outstanding accomplishments in one or more of the areas of biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, biophysics or chemical biology.
Winners are honored at a symposium in association with the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (ACS) at the ACS Spring meeting.
David is currently the R. J. Reynolds Professor of Chemistry in the department of chemistry at Duke University and holds Professorships in the departments of physics and biochemistry there. He is also an adjunct professor in the department of chemistry of the University of Pittsburgh. Gaining an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Duke University and a Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, David went on to work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Pittsburgh before returning to Duke in 2001.
David’s theoretical insights into tunnelling pathways of electron transfer in biological macromolecules established physical principles that have been extended to understand the phenomenon in a wide range of systems. His research group works closely with experimentalists and some of the current foci are designing molecular structures and assemblies for solar energy capture and conversion, exploring charge transfer mechanisms in bacterial nanowires and designing de novo proteins to explore proton-coupled electron transfer mechanisms.
We are thrilled to present David with the 2018 Biopolymers Murray Goodman Memorial Prize, and are looking forward to his award symposium and lecture next Spring.
