Laura Lee Kiessling (born 21 September 1960) 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 the Novartis Professor of Chemistry 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 ...

. Kiessling's research focuses on elucidating and exploiting interactions on the

cell surface The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extra ...

, especially those mediated by

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s binding to

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s. Multivalent protein-carbohydrate interactions play roles in cell-cell recognition and

signal transduction Signal transduction is the process by which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a biochemical cascade, series of molecular events. Proteins responsible for detecting stimuli are generally termed receptor (biology), rece ...

. Understanding and manipulating these interactions provides tools to study biological processes and design therapeutic treatments. Kiessling's interdisciplinary research combines organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, structural biology, and molecular and cell biology.

Education

Kiessling earned a B.S. in chemistry from the

in 1983 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1989. At Yale, she worked with

Stuart Schreiber Stuart Schreiber (born February 6, 1956) is an American chemist who is the Morris Loeb Research Professor at Harvard University, a co-founder of the Broad Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Emeritus, and a member of the Nat ...

to synthesize and study small molecules as probes of biological function. After earning her PhD, Kiessling spent two years at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

as an

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

Postdoctoral Fellow, where she worked with Peter B. Dervan to study DNA recognition and cleavage.

Career

In 1991, Kiessling joined the faculty of the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, where she became the Steenbock Professor of Chemistry and the

Laurens Anderson Laurens Anderson (May 19, 1920 – November 6, 2018) was an American biochemist. He was born on May 19, 1920, in South Dakota, to parents Adolf and Mary E. (Slaughter) Anderson. The family later moved to northeast Wyoming. Anderson's father died w ...

Professor of Biochemistry. While at UW-Madison, Kiessling also became the director of the Keck Center for Chemical Genomics and the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program. In 2017, she moved to the

as the Novartis Professor of Chemistry. as well as the editor-in-chief of

ACS Chemical Biology ''ACS Chemical Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published since 2006 by the American Chemical Society. It covers research at the interface between chemistry and biology spanning all aspects of chemical biology. The founding ...

. Kiessling's contributions span the fields of organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, and molecular biology. She has made contributions to the synthesis and study of many biologically active molecules, including

glycosyl donor A glycosyl donor is a carbohydrate mono- or oligosaccharide that will react with a suitable glycosyl acceptor to form a new glycosidic bond. By convention, the donor is the member of this pair that contains the resulting anomeric carbon of the new g ...

s, modified

peptide Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty am ...

s, and

glycopolymer Glycopolymer is a synthetic polymer with pendant carbohydrates. Glycopolymers play an important role in many biological recognition events such as cell–cell adhesion, the development of new tissues and the infectious behavior of virus and bacteri ...

s. Kiessling's research has used these molecules to probe

cell recognition Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

and

processes (Figure 1). Her research has shown that multivalent ligands (molecules that possess multiple binding groups) can influence receptor-ligand binding mechanisms, activate signaling, and target specific immune responses. These discoveries have potential applications in targeted

immunotherapy Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

and disease treatment. Kiessling has received a number of awards and honors in recognition of her research. She received a

MacArthur Foundation 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 ...

(popularly called the "MacArthur genius grant") in 1999. In 2007, Kiessling was inducted as a member of the United States

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 ...

and in 2017, she received the Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry. Kiessling is a 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 ...

s and 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 ...

, as well as an elected member 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 ...

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

, and

American Academy of Microbiology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. Since 2005, she has served as the founding editor-in-chief of

. Kiessling is also the cofounder of Quintessence Biosciences, a company that is working to translate her technological advances into cures for various diseases. She has been selected as one of the fifty top research and development "Stars to Watch" by ''Industry Week''.

Selected honors and awards

* 2022 Elected Member,

National Academy 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 ...

* 2019

Centenary Prize The Centenary Prize is an award granted annually by the United Kingdom-based Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) to up to three "outstanding chemists, who are also exceptional communicators, from overseas". The prize, established in 1947, and fir ...

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 ...

*2017 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry *2017 Elected Member,

*2016

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 ...

, Chicago Section of the

*2014 ACS Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic and Bioorganic Chemistry *2010 Fellow,

*2008

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

*2007 Elected Member,

*2007

Garvan–Olin Medal The Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal, previously called the Francis P. Garvan Medal, is an annual award that recognizes distinguished scientific accomplishment, leadership and service to chemistry by :Women chemists, women chemists. The Awar ...

*2003 Elected Member,

American Academy of Arts & 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 F ...

*2003 Fellow,

*1999–2004 John D. and Catherine T.

*1999 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award

References

External links

"Laura L. Kiessling", ''Scientific Commons''
*
The Kiessling Lab websiteChemistry-Biology Interface Training Program
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiessling, Laura L American women biochemists Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Yale University alumni MacArthur Fellows Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 21st-century American women scientists 1960 births Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from Lake Mills, Wisconsin American academic journal editors Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology American women academics Members of the National Academy of Medicine