Chemistry of Life Processes Institute Celebrates 10 Years of Transformative Science

Chemistry of Life Processes Institute Celebrates 10 Years of Transformative Science

This fall marked the ten-year anniversary of Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP) Institute’s debut in The Richard and Barbara Silverman Hall for Molecular Therapeutics and Diagnostics. To celebrate, the Institute held a recognition program to thank its Executive Advisory Board members, faculty, staff, and students for their contributions.

“CLP has become a hotbed of interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Founding Director Thomas O’Halloran, “made possible by our committed faculty, outstanding students, talented research staff and administrators, supportive Vice President for Research, and the generosity of our Executive Advisory Board and donors.”

According to O’Halloran the Institute has experienced tremendous growth since moving into Silverman Hall in 2009.  The number of CLP faculty members increased 5-fold to more than 60, while Institute faculty developed four affiliated university center and eight core facilities that advance the research of hundreds of investigators across the region.  In addition, the Institute faculty teamed up to create an NIH-funded training program that has enabled graduate students to work seamlessly across disciplinary boundaries, learning new methods and instruments, and opening up new areas of discovery. 

During the recognition ceremony, O’Halloran thanked and presented a crystal award to each member of the Institute’s Executive Advisory Board for their ongoing support, including Stuart Cornew, who helped inspire the idea of CLP and for serving as first chair of Executive Advisory Committee, and Andrew Chan, Senior Vice President of Research Biology, Genentech, for shouldering the role of EAB chair and endowing the Institute’s Lambert Fellowship program that supports outstanding undergraduate researchers.

Richard B. Silverman, Patrick G. Ryan/Aon Professor; Professor of Chemistry, received award in recognition of his passion, dedication and generosity to the Institute.  O’Halloran also expressed appreciation for the contributions of administrative and core facility staff and scientists who received gift cards and special recognition from the core leaders.

“When CLP recently underwent external program review,” said O’Halloran, “the reviewers commented on the centrality of our affiliated centers and cores to the realization of the CLP mission and were deeply impressed by the extraordinary expertise and dedication of their research faculty, postdocs and technical staff.”

Last, O’Halloran gave special thanks to Sheila Judge, the Institute’s Senior Director for Research, Education and Administration, and Research Professor, whose leadership and dedication has enabled the Institute to flourish.

After the recognition event, attendees enjoyed a fall-themed lunch under a big tent just outside of Silverman Hall and were given CLP-branded t-shirts.

by Lisa La Vallee