Agilent Technologies Announces Winner of Fourth Annual Early Career Professor Award

Mittermaier joined the faculty in the department of chemistry at McGill in 2005 and has used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in his research to develop an understanding of how the primary amino-acid sequence of a protein determines its dynamic properties. His work has also established links between structural mobility at the microscopic level and functional activity at the macroscopic level.

This year's award focused on the field of structural biology using NMR, an area of research highly valued by Agilent. To qualify for the award, a professor must make significant contributions to the subset of structural biology that uses NMR techniques to improve understanding of the molecular structure and function of nucleic acids or proteins. Mittermaier's research has successfully applied molecular biology, mutagenesis methods and NMR to probe the relationship between protein sequences, dynamics and function.

We are delighted to learn that Agilent has selected our colleague Anthony Mittermaier for this prestigious award, said professor R. Bruce Lennox, chair of McGill's department of chemistry. Professor Mittermaier is a pioneer in recognizing the power of an integrated dynamic and thermodynamic approach to understanding protein behavior. His combined NMR/calorimetry approach to sorting out the coupled protein folding/allostery problem is likely to find widespread application to many protein systems.

This year, we were fortunate to have another group of impressive candidates, said Jack Wenstrand, director of University Relations at Agilent. Our winner, Dr. Anthony Mittermaier, has demonstrated the highest level of excellence and skill in structural biology, and we are looking forward to following his innovative research endeavors.

The Agilent Early Career Professor Award is presented annually to recognize and encourage excellence in measurement research. It seeks to establish strong collaborative relationships between Agilent researchers and leading professors early in their careers, as well as to underscore Agilent's role as a sponsor of university research.