Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi (born October 10, 1966) is an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

, known for her wide-ranging work spanning both chemistry and biology. She coined the term " bioorthogonal chemistry" for chemical reactions compatible with living systems. Her recent efforts include synthesis of chemical tools to study cell surface sugars called

glycan The terms glycans and polysaccharides are defined by IUPAC as synonyms meaning "compounds consisting of a large number of monosaccharides linked glycosidically". However, in practice the term glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate ...

s and how they affect diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and viral infections like

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. At

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, she holds the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professorship in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Bertozzi is also an Investigator at the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

(HHMI) and is the former director of the

Molecular Foundry The Molecular Foundry is a nanoscience user facility located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, and is one of five national Nanoscale Science Research Centers sponsored by the United States Department of Energy ...

, a

nanoscience Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

research center at

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

. Since 2024, she has served as a scientific advisory board member of

Arc Institute Arc Institute is a nonprofit biomedical research organization based in Palo Alto, California. It was co-founded by Stanford University biochemistry professor Silvana Konermann, UC Berkeley bioengineering professor Patrick Hsu, and Stripe, Inc., ...

. She received the MacArthur "genius" award at age 33. In 2010, she was the first woman to receive the prestigious

Lemelson–MIT Prize The Lemelson–MIT Program awards several prizes yearly to inventors in the United States. The largest is the Lemelson–MIT Prize which was endowed in 1994 by Jerome H. Lemelson, funded by the Lemelson Foundation, and is administered through the ...

faculty award. She is a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

(2005), the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

(2011), and the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...

(2013). In 2014, it was announced that Bertozzi would lead '' ACS Central Science'', the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

's first peer-reviewed

open access journal Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

, which offers all content free to the public. Since 2021 she has been a member of the

Accademia dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

. As an open lesbian in academia and science, Bertozzi has been a role model for students and colleagues. Bertozzi was awarded the 2022

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

, jointly with

Morten P. Meldal Morten Peter Meldal (born 16 January 1954) is a Danish chemist and Nobel laureate. He is a professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is best known for developing the CuAAC-click reaction, concurrently w ...

and

Karl Barry Sharpless Karl Barry Sharpless (born April 28, 1941) is an American stereochemist. He is a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, known for his work on stereoselective reactions and click chemistry. Sharpless was awarded half of the 2001 Nobel Prize i ...

, "for the development of

click chemistry Click chemistry is an approach to chemical synthesis that emphasizes efficiency, simplicity, selectivity, and modularity in chemical processes used to join molecular building blocks. It includes both the development and use of "click reactions", a ...

and bioorthogonal chemistry".

Education

Carolyn Bertozzi received her B.A., ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'', in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where she worked with Professor Joe Grabowski on the design and construction of a photoacoustic calorimeter. Grabowski was impressed with her work and required Bertozzi to write a thesis on this project, which was submitted and Bertozzi won the Thomas T. Hoopes Undergraduate Thesis Prize. While an undergraduate, she played in several bands, notably Bored of Education with future

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

guitarist

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is known for his tenure with the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello was a membe ...

. After graduating from Harvard in 1988, she worked at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

with Chris Chidsey. Bertozzi completed her Ph.D. in chemistry at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1993 with Mark Bednarski, working on the

chemical synthesis Chemical synthesis (chemical combination) is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products. This occurs by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions. In modern laboratory uses ...

oligosaccharide An oligosaccharide (; ) is a carbohydrate, saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten) of monosaccharides (simple sugars). Oligosaccharides can have many functions including Cell–cell recognition, cell recognition and ce ...

analogs. While at Berkeley, she discovered that viruses can bind to sugars in the body. The discovery led to her field of research,

glycobiology Defined in the narrowest sense, glycobiology is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, and biology of saccharides (sugar chains or glycans) that are widely distributed in nature. Sugars or saccharides are essential components of all living thin ...

. During Bertozzi's third year of graduate school, Bednarski was diagnosed with colon cancer, which resulted in him taking a leave of absence and changing his career path by enrolling in medical school. This left Bertozzi and the rest of the lab to complete their Ph.D. work with no direct supervision.

Career and research

After graduating from Berkeley with a Ph.D., Bertozzi was a

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

(UCSF) with Steven Rosen, where she studied the activity of

endothelial The endothelium (: endothelia) is a single layer of squamous endothelial cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. The endothelium forms an interface between circulating blood or lymph in the lumen and the res ...

oligosaccharides in promoting cell adhesion at

inflammation Inflammation (from ) is part of the biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. The five cardinal signs are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin ''calor'', '' ...

sites. While working with Rosen at UCSF, Bertozzi was able to modify the protein and sugar molecules in the walls of living cells so that the cells accept foreign materials such as implants. In 1996 Bertozzi became a faculty member in the

UC Berkeley College of Chemistry The UC Berkeley College of Chemistry is one of the fifteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. It houses the department of chemistry and the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. The College offers b ...

and a faculty scientist at

, where she served as the director of the

. She has been an investigator with

HHMI The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

since 2000. In 1999, while working with HHMI and at Berkeley, she founded the field of bioorthogonal chemistry and coined the term in 2003. This new field and technique allows researchers to chemically modify molecules in living organisms and not interrupt the processes of the cell. In 2015, Bertozzi moved to Stanford University to join the ChEM-H Institute. Bertozzi studies the

of underlying diseases such as

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, inflammatory disorders such as

arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

, and

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

such as

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. In particular, Bertozzi has advanced the understanding of cell surface

oligosaccharides An oligosaccharide (; ) is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten) of monosaccharides (simple sugars). Oligosaccharides can have many functions including cell recognition and cell adhesion. They are normally presen ...

involved in cell recognition and inter-cellular communication. Bertozzi has applied the techniques of bioorthogonal chemistry to study

glycocalyx The glycocalyx (: glycocalyces or glycocalyxes), also known as the pericellular matrix and cell coat, is a layer of glycoproteins and glycolipids which surround the cell membranes of bacteria, epithelial cells, and other cells. Animal epithe ...

, the sugars that surround the cell membrane. Her discoveries have advanced the field of biotherapeutics. Her lab has also developed tools for research. One such development is creating chemical tools for studying

glycans The terms glycans and polysaccharides are defined by IUPAC as synonyms meaning "compounds consisting of a large number of monosaccharides linked glycosidically". However, in practice the term glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate ...

in living systems. Her lab's development of

nanotechnologies Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propert ...

, which probe biological systems, led to the development of a fast point-of-care tuberculosis test in 2018. In 2017, due to her lab's discovery of linking the sugars on the surface of cancer cells and their ability to avoid the immune system defenses, she was invited to speak at Stanford's

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

, giving a talk entitled "What the sugar coating on your cells is trying to tell you".

Biotechnology startups

In 2001, Bertozzi and Steve Rosen co-founded Thios Pharmaceuticals in

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley, California, Berkeley and Oakland, California, Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisc ...

, the first company to target

sulfation Sulfation (sometimes spelled sulphation in British English) is the chemical reaction that entails the addition of SO3 group. In principle, many sulfations would involve reactions of sulfur trioxide (SO3). In practice, most sulfations are effected ...

pathways. Thios Pharmaceuticals dissolved in 2005. In 2008, Bertozzi founded a startup of her own: Redwood Bioscience also in Emeryville, California. Redwood Bioscience is a biotechnology company that use
SMARTag, a site-specific protein modification technology
that allows small drugs to attach to sites on the proteins and can be used to help fight cancers. Redwood Bioscience was acquired b
Catalent Pharma Solutions
in 2014. Bertozzi remains a part of the advisory board for the biologics sector of the company. In 2014, she co-founded Enable Biosciences of

South San Francisco, California South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is colloquially termed "South City". The population was 66,105 at the 2020 United States censu ...

. It focuses on biotechnologies for at-home diagnoses for

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

, and other diseases. Bertozzi became a co-founder of Palleon Pharma of

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the Technological and industrial history of the United States, American Industrial Revoluti ...

, in 2015. Palleon Pharma focuses on investigating glycoimmune checkpoint inhibitors as a potential treatment for cancer. In 2017, Bertozzi helped found InterVenn Biosciences, which uses

mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...

and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

to enhance

glycoproteomics Glycoproteomics is a branch of proteomics that identifies, catalogs, and characterizes proteins containing carbohydrates as a result of post-translational modifications. Glycosylation is the most common post-translational modification of proteins, b ...

for target and

biomarker In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, ...

discovery,

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

diagnostics, and predicting the successes and failures of clinical trials. She co-founded the Grace Science Foundation in 2018. The foundation focuses on curing NGLY1 deficiency through developing therapeutics that are efficient and inexpensive. In 2019, she co-founded both OliLux Biosciences and Lycia Therapeutics. OliLux Biosciences develops new methods for tuberculosis detection. The founding of Lycia Therapeutics occurred when Bertozzi's group discovered lysosome-targeting chimeras (LYTACs). The new molecule class may be able to degrade some cardiovascular disease and cancer targets. Lycia Therapeutics focuses on developing technology which utilizes lysosome-targeting chimeras (LYTACs). Bertozzi also previously served on the research advisory board of several pharmaceutical companies including

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

, and until 2021

Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was a Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and recruited a company of men to ...

. Bertozzi has served on the scientific advisory board of

Colossal Biosciences Colossal Biosciences Inc. is an American biotechnology and genetic engineering company working to de-extinct several extinct animals, including the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, the northern white rhinoceros, the dire wolf, and the dodo. ...

since 2021.

Publications

Bertozzi has over 600 publications on

Web of Science The Web of Science (WoS; previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a paid-access platform that provides (typically via the internet) access to multiple databases that provide reference and citation data from academic journals, conference proceedi ...

; the most cited are: * * * * *

Awards and honors

* 1987 –

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

* 1997 –

Alfred P. Sloan Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. ( ; May 23, 1875February 17, 1966) was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a longtime president, chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation. First as a senior executive and later as ...

Research Fellowship * 1997 – Horace S. Isbell Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry * 1998 –

Glaxo Wellcome GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

Scholars' Award * 1998 –

Beckman Young Investigators Award The Beckman Young Investigators Award was established by Mabel and Arnold Beckman in 1991, and is now administered by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program is intended to provide research support to ...

* 1999 – Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the

* 1999 – Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award * 1999 –

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

* 2000 –

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

* 2000 – Merck Academic Development Program Award * 2001 – UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award * 2001 –

ACS Award in Pure Chemistry The American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry is awarded annually by the American Chemical Society (ACS) "to recognize and encourage fundamental research in pure chemistry carried out in North America by young men and women." "Young" me ...

* 2001 – Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching * 2001 – Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

* 2002 – Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award of the Protein Society * 2003 – Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

* 2003 – Havinga Medal, Univ. Leiden * 2004 –

Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award The Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award was established in 1951 by the Iota Sigma Pi honorary society for women in chemistry. The award is given for research achievement in chemistry or biochemistry to a woman not over forty years of age at the time ...

Iota Sigma Pi Iota Sigma Pi () is a national honor society in the United States. It was established in 1900 and specializes in the promotion of women in the sciences, especially chemistry. It also focuses on personal and professional growth for women in these f ...

* 2005 – Member of the

* 2005 – T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professorship in Chemistry * 2007 –

Ernst Schering Prize The Ernst Schering Prize is awarded annually by the Ernst Schering Foundation for especially outstanding basic research in the fields of medicine, biology or chemistry anywhere in the world. Established in 1991 by the Ernst Schering Research Foun ...

* 2007 – LGBTQ Scientist of the Year Award – from the

National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals Out to Innovate, previously known as the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP), is a professional society for professionals in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering. Each year, Out to I ...

* 2008 – Li Ka Shing Women in Science Award * 2008 – Roy L. Whistler International Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry * 2008 – Member of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

* 2008 –

Willard Gibbs Award The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Jo ...

* 2009 – William H. Nichols Medal * 2009 – Harrison Howe Award * 2009 – Albert Hofmann Medal, Univ. Zurich * 2010 –

* 2010 –

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

– Organic Division, Bioorganic Chemistry Award * 2011 – Member of the

* 2011 – Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award for Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry * 2011 –

Emanuel Merck Lectureship The Emanuel Merck Lectureship was founded in 1992 by Technische Universität Darmstadt and Merck KGaA located in Darmstadt, Germany. The lectureship aspires to enlighten scientists and students at Technische Universität Darmstadt, as well as Merck ...

* 2012 – Honorary Doctorate of Science from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

* 2012 –

Heinrich Wieland Prize The Heinrich Wieland Prize is awarded annually by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation for outstanding research on biologically active molecules and systems in the areas of chemistry, biochemistry and physiology as well as their clinical importance ...

* 2013 – Elected Fellow of the

* 2013 – Hans Bloemendal Award * 2015 –

UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life ...

150th Anniversary Alumni Excellence Awards * 2017 – Arthur C. Cope Award * 2018 – Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) * 2020 – John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science * 2020 – Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize * 2020 – F. A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research * 2022 –

Wolf Prize in Chemistry The Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and Arts. The Wo ...

* 2022 – Dr H. P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics * 2022 –

Dickson Prize The Dickson Prize in Medicine and the Dickson Prize in Science were both established in 1969 by Joseph Z. Dickson and Agnes Fischer Dickson. Dickson Prize in Medicine The Dickson Prize in Medicine is awarded annually by the University of Pittsbur ...

in Medicine * 2022 –

Welch Award in Chemistry The Welch Award in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, to encourage and recognize basic chemical research for the benefit of mankind. The award, which has been given since 1972, is one of th ...

* 2022 – Bijvoet Medal of the

Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research The Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research is a research institute at Utrecht University. The Bijvoet Centre performs research on the relation between the structure and function of biomolecules, including proteins and lipids, which play a role ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

* 2022 – Lifetime Mentor Award,

. * 2022 –

* 2023 – Roger Adams Award * 2023 – AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research * 2024 –

Priestley Medal The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, one of the discoverers of ...

Personal life

Bertozzi grew up in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

, the daughter of the late Norma Gloria (Berringer) and William Bertozzi. Her father was of Italian descent. Her maternal grandparents were from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She has two sisters, one of whom,

Andrea Bertozzi Andrea Louise Bertozzi (born 1965) is an American mathematician. Her research interests are in non-linear partial differential equations and applied mathematics. Education and career She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Princeton ...

, is on the mathematics faculty at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. Her father was a physics professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. Bertozzi and her two sisters grew up around science. Because their father was a physics professor. When asked what she and her sisters wanted to be when they grew up, the answer was unanimous: a nuclear physicist. The three girls would attend MIT camps, as their father dreamt that they would attend MIT due to a "mixture of pride and the promise of free tuition". To William's dismay, Carolyn attended Harvard instead because the school offered strengths outside of just science. Bertozzi briefly considered a music career. In high school, she won several awards for music compositions and musical accomplishments. Her talent on the keyboard earned her offers as a music major from several university rock bands, but she felt that she was "always centered on the sciences". Bertozzi is a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

and has been out since the late 1980s.

References

External links

* of Bertozzi Research Group
What the sugar coating on your cells is trying to tell you
– TED Talk *
Bertozzi's
''et al.'' publication list * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertozzi, Carolyn 1966 births 21st-century American women 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American chemists American women chemists Bijvoet Medal recipients Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Foreign members of the Royal Society Harvard College alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators American people of Italian descent American people of Canadian descent Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory people American LGBTQ academics LGBTQ Nobel laureates LGBTQ people from Massachusetts American LGBTQ scientists Living people MacArthur Fellows Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of the National Academy of Medicine Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Nobel laureates in Chemistry Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Stanford University Department of Chemistry faculty UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni UC Berkeley College of Chemistry faculty University of California, San Francisco alumni Women Nobel laureates Chemists from Massachusetts