Sponsored by the CSC Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Division of the CSC and Simon Fraser University
The Melanie O’Neill New Investigator Award in Biological Chemistry is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to biological chemistry while working in Canada.
Deadline extended to Sept. 1, 2023
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
The 2023 winner of the Melanie O’Neill New Investigator Award in Biological Chemistry is:
Ryan Hili, MCIC
York University
Ryan Hili received his H.B.Sc. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Toronto in 2005. He remained at the University of Toronto for his Ph.D., where he studied the synthesis and reactivity of unprotected amino aldehydes under the supervision of Andrei Yudin. In 2010, he joined the labs of David Liu at Harvard University/HHMI as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow where he developed novel approaches to generate and evolve synthetic biopolymers. In 2013, Ryan joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Georgia as an Assistant Professor. He moved his labs to York University in 2017, where he is currently Associate Professor and York University Research Chair (Tier II) in Molecular Evolution. His research programme focuses on the chemical biology of nucleic acids, particularly in the areas of epitranscriptomics, DNA-Encoded Libraries, and the evolution of modified nucleic acid biopolymers.