Heinrich-Emanuel-Merck Award for Analytical Chemistry goes to Norman J. Dovichi

Canadian researcher receives prize of DM 25,000 - Breakthrough in large-scale DNA sequencing - Award of prize at the Analytica in Munich Darmstadt/Munich (PROTEXT) - This year's Heinrich-Emanuel- Merck Award for Analytical Chemistry goes to Professor Norman J. Dovichi from the University of Alberta in Canada. The 45-year-old Dovichi receives the award for his work in the field of fast, large-scale DNA sequencing, in which he has made a special breakthrough. The analysis of the human genome is today performed predominantly according to the method developed by Dovichi. He was presented the award, which is worth DM 25,000, by Dr. Klaus- Dieter Franz, Head of Central Analysis at Merck, and Professor Dr. Manfred Grasserbauer, Technical University of Vienna, speaker of the jury, on 12 April during a symposium on the occasion of the Analytica Conference in Munich. In his laudation Grasserbauer highlighted the importance of Dovichi's work in the field of DNA research. He stated that the approach realised by Dovichi's work group represents a true breakthrough in the sequencing of the human genome. Over ninety- five percent of the entire human genome has been sequenced this year by means of the method developed by Dovichi. (Nucleic Acids Research, 1999, "Multicapillary electrophoresis system for small- scale DNA sequencing and analysis"). Norman J. Dovichi is Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Canada. He was born on 12 April 1954 and is a US and Canadian citizen. Following his Degree in Chemistry and Mathematics at North Illinois University he was conferred a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry by the University of Utah for his work on "Thermal lens calorimetry". Dovichi's research interests include highly sensitive chemical analysis and bioanalytical chemistry. His outstanding research results have already been honoured by a great many national and international institutions. The Heinrich-Emanuel-Merck Award for Analytical Chemistry was initiated by Merck in 1988 for the promotion of chemical- analytical research. It commemorates the first standardisation of analytical methods described by the Merck chemist Dr. Karl Krauch around a century ago in his book on "The Testing of the Purity of Chemical Reagents". The award bears the name of the founder of the company Heinrich-Emanuel Merck, who laid down the company's philosophy of quality with his declaration "I shall always guarantee the purity of my preparations". The Award is intended for scientists who are working on new methods in chemically oriented analysis and their application in the field of life sciences. List of previous winners: 1988 - Prof. Hiraide, Japan, Prof. Wolfbeiss, Austria 1990 - Dr. Bidlingmaier, USA, Prof. Nießner, Germany 1993 - Prof. Amirav, Israel 1996 - Prof. Harrison, Canada, Prof. Manz, Great Britain 1998 - Prof. Zenobi, Switzerland ots Original Text Service: Merck KGaA Internet: http://recherche.newsaktuell.de Contact Barbara Bennier Tel. +49 6151 72 2579 Fax +49 6151 72 7707 E-mail barbara.bennier@merck.de E-mail: pressestelle@merck.de Internet http://www.merck.de Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT