Bernard Belleau Award

Sponsored by Paraza Pharma Inc.

The Bernard Belleau Award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of medicinal chemistry through research involving biochemical or organic chemical mechanisms.

View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners

The 2027 winner of the Bernard Belleau Award is:

Giuseppe Melacini, MCIC
McMaster University

Giuseppe Melacini is Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster University. Dr. Giuseppe Melacini received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and his Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Milan, with external research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). During his graduate studies, he worked in the area of peptidomimetics. He then moved to the Netherlands for postdoctoral studies at Utrecht University. There, he focused on studying protein hydration by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. His current research integrates biomolecular NMR, biophysical chemistry, and simulations to define how small molecules, disease-associated mutations, and protein dynamics regulate signalling and protein self-association. His laboratory has elucidated allosteric mechanisms governing cyclic-nucleotide-dependent signalling proteins and translated these mechanistic insights into selective modulation of therapeutically relevant targets. His group has also developed NMR approaches to map allosteric networks and applied mechanistic chemical biology to amyloid inhibition and neurodegeneration. His work has been recognized with the CSC Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship Award, an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award, the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada – Maureen Andrew Award, as well as graduate mentorship and teaching awards.

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Past Winners