Carolyn Bertozzi is a distinguished chemist whose pioneering work has fundamentally transformed the interface between chemistry and biology. She currently serves as the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology and Radiology at Stanford University while also holding an appointment as an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Born on October 10, 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1988 before completing her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. Following postdoctoral training in cellular immunology at the University of California, San Francisco, she joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1996 and established herself as a visionary researcher before moving to Stanford in 2015 to help launch the Sarafan ChEM-H Institute.
Bertozzi pioneered the revolutionary field of bioorthogonal chemistry, a term she coined to describe chemical reactions that proceed inside living organisms without interfering with normal biochemical processes. Her groundbreaking work extended click chemistry principles into biological systems, enabling scientists to observe molecular interactions within living cells in real time for the first time. This transformative approach has provided unprecedented insights into cell surface glycobiology and its relationship to disease states including cancer, inflammation, and infection. For this paradigm-shifting contribution that bridged chemistry and biology, she received the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, recognizing how her bioorthogonal reactions have become indispensable tools for exploring cellular functions and developing targeted therapeutic approaches.
Her laboratory's innovations have spawned twelve biotechnology companies and led to the development of multiple therapeutic platforms including targeted enzyme therapeutics for immune oncology and Lysosome Targeting Chimeras for extracellular protein degradation. As an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she continues to drive the field forward through her leadership at Stanford's interdisciplinary ChEM-H Institute. Bertozzi's exceptional contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious honors including the Nobel Prize, Welch Award in Chemistry, and the 2024 Priestley Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society. Her ongoing research continues to push the boundaries of chemical biology, developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that merge chemical precision with biological complexity to address pressing medical challenges.
