Cardiff Scientist honoured in Biochemical Society Awards

Professor John Harwood is recognised for his outstanding contribution to lipid biochemistry

A Cardiff University scientist has been honoured at this year's Biochemical Society Awards.

Professor John Harwood from the School of Biosciences was awarded the Morton Lecture Award which recognises an outstanding contribution to lipid biochemistry.

He is one of 11 distinguished scientists from around the world to have received accolades for their work.

The awards are given to recognise research excellence and highlight the profound impact that a scientist's research has had on the scientific community and wider society. Some awards are also given for outstanding work by early career researchers.

The Morton Lecture will be given by John Harwood, Deputy Director of the School of Biosciences.  John Harwood has had a long career at the forefront of research into lipid biochemistry. His original contributions to lipid biochemistry are many and varied; he has worked in both animal and plant lipid biochemistry, and made important contributions to both. His research has covered all levels of lipid biochemistry, from genes to medical products.

On receiving the award, Professor Harwood, deputy director of the School of Biosciences, said:

"I am honoured to be given the Morton Lecture Award, which I regard as a reflection of all the work carried out by the fine young scientists in my lab over the years.

"It is also noteworthy that my Ph.D. supervisor (J.N. Hawthorne) and a co-author of my first paper (R.H. Michell) were also past awardees. I had very good training!"

The Morton Lecture was established in 1978 to commemorate the late R.A. Morton.  The winners of the award have demonstrated that they have made an outstanding contribution to lipid biochemistry.

Recipients, past and present, of the Biochemical Society Awards have made ground-breaking discoveries and developments in fields as diverse as cancer research, lipid biochemistry, bioenergetics, RNA biology, mass spectrometry, eukaryotic cells and bacteria genes. They include many Nobel Prize winners.

Professor Anne Dell, Chair of the Awards Committee, said:

"The Biochemical Society's Awards recognize scientists at all career stages, across the full spectrum of the molecular biosciences.

"The Award lectures in 2016 will showcase the outstanding contributions that the winners have made."

All of the Award prizes and medal lectureships will take place in 2016 and all lectures will be published in Biochemical Society Transactions.