Mr. Josh Rackers was awarded the 2019 Ceil M. DeGutis Prize in Chemical Biology/Medicinal Chemistry.

On June 7, 2019, Dr. Josh Rackers was awarded the 2019 Ceil M. DeGutis Prize in Chemical Biology/Medicinal Chemistry.

Dr. Rackers presented his research entitled “HIPPO: A physics-based model for biomolecular interactions”. Dr. Rackers was a graduate student in the Computational and Molecular Biophysics Program. Mr. Rackers was nominated by his thesis mentor Dr. Jay Ponder. In Dr. Ponder’s lab, Josh’s work focused on using the tools of applied quantum mechanics to predict the behavior and interactions of biological molecules. This work is motivated by a deeply held belief that physics holds the answers to many of biology’s most important problems.

Dr. Rackers defended his thesis, entitled, “A Physics-Based Intermolecular Potential for Biomolecular Simulation” on April 26, 2019. Dr. Rackers has accepted a position as a Truman Fellow at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. The Truman Fellowship is Sandia’s premier postdoctoral fellowship, with funds to allow Dr. Rackers to pursue three years of independent research. He plans on using the model he developed in his graduate work to shed light on the long-standing mystery of selectivity in ion channels.

To view pictures from the seminar and reception you can click here.