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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Courtesy University of Cambridge

For his "distinguished work", Professor Michele Vendruscolo has received the Giuseppe Occhialini Medal and Prize, awarded jointly by the Institute of Physics and the Italian Physical Society.

Professor Vendruscolo received the award “for having brought physics and biology together in innovative ways to make highly influential contributions to the understanding of the fundamental principles of protein aggregation, solubility and homeostasis”.

The prize was presented during the 103rd National Congress of SIF in Trento, Italy, by the then President of the Institute of Physics, Professor Roy Sambles, and the president of SIF, Professor Luisa Cifarell. It is conferred jointly by the two societies for distinguished work carried out within the 10 years preceding the award. 

Professor Vendruscolo, along with Professors Chris Dobson and Tuomas Knowles, is a co-director of The Centre for Misfolding Diseases, based here in the Department of Chemistry. The Centre has been established to tackle protein misfolding disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and type II diabetes, which are progressive and still incurable and are rapidly becoming the greatest threat to modern healthcare, with over 40 million people worldwide suffering from dementia and over 300 million people from type II diabetes.

The Centre brings together leading researchers from across the full spectrum of scientific disciplines to study the molecular origins of neurodegenerative diseases. A central theme of its activities is the use of principles from the physical and chemical sciences to address these complex biological and medical problems.