Neil Kelleher will be awarded the 2006 Arthur F. Findeis Award for Achievements by a Young Analytical Scientist at the March National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta, Georgia. The Findeis Award, sponsored by Philip Morris, USA, is given annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of analytical chemistry by a young analytical scientist. His colleague, Jonathan Sweedler, received a Findeis Award in 1997.
Professor Kelleher has established a first-class research program in proteomics, the study of the full set of proteins encoded by an organism's DNA. He is regarded by many as the leader of a new "top-down" approach to proteomics, in which proteins are analyzed intact, or after cleavage into a few large fragments. Dr. Kelleher uses Fourier transform mass spectrometry combined with new computer algorithms to analyze the data and provide information about how proteins work on the molecular and genomic level.
Professor Kelleher obtained a B.S. and B.A. from Pacific Lutheran University in 1992. He went on to receive a Fulbright Fellowship the following year, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1997. After a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Medical School with Chris Walsh, Dr. Kelleher joined the faculty at UIUC in 1999 as a bioanalytical chemist.
Professor Kelleher has accrued an extensive list of honors and awards. He was previously named a Arthur P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, a Packard Fellow, and has received a Presidential Early Career Award, to name a few.