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ABOUT THE WINNERS

The medal will be awarded to the first author of Article and Review article, and all of the authors will receive the certificates. Each first author’s short biography is as follows.

Article Division: awardee Tomoyuki Kimura

Dr. Tomoyuki Kimura (1) is a chemist specializing in the field of natural products chemistry. He received his BS (2002) in Sciences University of Tokyo and his PhD (2008) from Tsukuba University under the supervision of Prof. Hideo Kigoshi. In 2007, he joined the Institute of Microbial Chemistry as a research resident, and subsequently became a researcher.

He is currently engaged in structural analysis using X-rays and electron beams, believing that determining the absolute stereochemistry of biologically active natural products is fundamental to elucidating the mechanism of action, biosynthesis, and chemical biology. He is also interested in using machine learning and AI to determine the structure of useful natural products.

This paper was combinedly prepared by the first author, the following co-authors, and the members listed in the acknowledgments.

The co-authors were Ms. M. Umekita (2), Dr. M. Hatano (3), and Ms. C. Hayashi (4). The corresponding authors were Dr. R. Sawa (5) and Dr. M. Igarashi (6) (see photo).

Review article Division: awardee Erin McCauley

Dr. Erin McCauley is an Associate Professor at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), where she runs a natural products research group focused on identifying novel natural products from marine derived microorganisms. During her graduate studies she worked with Dr. Russell Kerr at the University of Prince Edward Island investigating the microbiomes of Caribbean octocorals. After which she began her postdoctoral research with Dr. Phillip Crews at the University of California Santa Cruz where she was involved in the isolation and structural determination of bioactive metabolites from Indo-Pacific marine sponges. Since beginning her career at CSUDH, Dr. McCauley has taken an active involvement in getting undergraduate students involved in research opportunities and is now serving as the Interim Director for the Office of Undergraduate Research.