Jennifer Prescher
{{Short description|American chemist and academic}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Jennifer Prescher
| birth_name = Jennifer Ann Prescher
| workplaces = Stanford University
University of California, Irvine
| alma_mater = University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (BS)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
| doctoral_advisor = Carolyn Bertozzi
| fields = Chemistry
| thesis_title = Probing glycosylation in living animals with bioorthogonal chemistries
| thesis_url = https://worldcat.org/en/title/892833679
| thesis_year = 2006
| prizes = National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2014)
Sloan Research Fellowship (2015)
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
Jennifer Ann Prescher is an American chemist who is a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. Her research considers the development of bioorthogonal, bioluminescent tools for the noninvasive, real-time imaging of immunometabolism.{{EuropePMC}} She was recognized with the 2023 American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award.{{Cite web |url=https://cen.acs.org/people/awards/ACS-2023-National-Award-winners/100/i32 |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=cen.acs.org |title=ACS 2023 National Award winners }}
Early life and education
Prescher was an undergraduate in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. She moved to California as a doctoral researcher, and was appointed to the University of California, Berkeley as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow, where she worked with Carolyn Bertozzi on glycosylation. She developed a strategy to visualize the glycosylation process, which allowed for the design and development of novel diagnostics. The strategy relied upon the use of bioorthogonal chemistries. Specifically, she showed that it was possible to incorporate metabolic precursor sugars with specific chemical functionalities into target glycans. For example, biologically inert azides can be incorporated into glycans and chemically modified with exogenously delivered probes.{{Cite thesis |degree=PhD|last=Prescher |first=Jennifer Ann |id={{ProQuest|305348554}}|url=https://search.library.berkeley.edu/permalink/01UCS_BER/1thfj9n/alma991016646109706532|website=berkeley.edu |title=Probing glycosylation in living animals with bioorthogonal chemistries |publisher=University of California, Berkeley|date=2006 |language=English |oclc=892833679}}
Research and career
In 2008, she joined Stanford University as a Susan Komen postdoctoral fellow.{{cn|date=June 2022}} Prescher joined the University of California, Irvine in 2010, and was made a full professor in 2018. Her early work looked to design imaging techniques to better understand cell movements and metastatic disease.{{Cite web |title=NSF Award Search: Award # 1351302 - CAREER: Engineered bioluminescent tools for visualizing metastatic disease |url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1351302&HistoricalAwards=false |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=nsf.gov |language=en}} She worked on bioluminescent tools; tools which luminesce when they come into close proximity to cancer cells.{{Cite web |title=Bioluminescent tools for noninvasive, real-time imaging of immunometabolism |url=https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/frontiers-group/distinguished-investigators/projects/bioluminescent-tools-noninvasive-real-time-imaging-immunometabolism |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=alleninstitute.org}}{{Cite web |title=Research |url=https://www.chem.uci.edu/~jpresche/research.html |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=chem.uci.edu}} She called the technique a biological flashlight, or phasor.{{Cite web |title=Professor Prescher named a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group Distinguished Investigator {{!}} UCI Department of Chemistry |url=https://www.chem.uci.edu/node/23371 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=chem.uci.edu}}
Awards and honors
- 2014 Kavli Fellow{{Cite web |title=2014 Kavli Fellows - News Release |url=http://www.nasonline.org/programs/kavli-frontiers-of-science/news/2014-kavli-fellows.html |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=nasonline.org}}
- 2014 National Science Foundation CAREER Award
- 2015 Sloan Research Fellowship{{Cite web |date=2015-02-28 |title=2015 Sloan Research Fellowships go to two UCI chemistry faculty members |url=https://news.uci.edu/2015/02/28/2015-sloan-research-fellowships-go-to-two-uci-chemistry-faculty-members/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=UCI News |language=en-US}}
- 2015 Novartis early career award in organic chemistry{{Cite journal |date=2015-12-07 |title=Novartis Early Career Award: B. L. Pentelute and J. A. Prescher / Biotrans Award: W. Kroutil / Carus Medal: H. J. Wörner |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201509775 |journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition |language=en |volume=54 |issue=50 |pages=15012 |doi=10.1002/anie.201509775|url-access=subscription }}
- 2016 Thieme Medical Publishers chemistry journal award{{Cite web |title=Previous Winners - Thieme Chemistry - Georg Thieme Verlag |url=https://www.thieme.de/en/thieme-chemistry/thieme-chemistry-journals-award-previous-winners-107365.htm |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Thieme |language=en-GB}}
- 2016 American Chemical Society Women in Chemistry Rising Star{{Cite web |title=2016 News |url=https://www.chem.uci.edu/~jpresche/group_update/2016/06/09/2016-News.html |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=chem.uci.edu}}
- 2016 University of California, Irvine distinguished assistant professor award for research{{Cite web |title=Faculty Awards {{!}} UCI Department of Chemistry |url=https://www.chem.uci.edu/talk-us/awards/faculty |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=chem.uci.edu}}
- 2018 Scialog Fellow{{Cite web |title=Scialog Fellow (Research Corporation) {{!}} UCI Department of Chemistry |url=https://www.chem.uci.edu/node/22096 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=chem.uci.edu}}
- 2021 Paul Allen Distinguished Investigator{{Cite web |title=Investigators |url=https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/frontiers-group/distinguished-investigators/investigators/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=alleninstitute.org |archive-date=2022-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518062244/https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/frontiers-group/distinguished-investigators/investigators/ |url-status=dead }}
- 2023 American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award{{Cite web |url=https://cen.acs.org/people/awards/ACS-2023-National-Award-winners/100/i32 |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=cen.acs.org |title=ACS 2023 National Award winners }}
Selected publications
- A Comparative Study of Bioorthogonal Reactions with Azides{{Cite Q|Q54279492}}
- A strain-promoted [3 + 2] azide-alkyne cycloaddition for covalent modification of biomolecules in living systems{{Cite Q|Q28293869}}
- Chemistry in living systems{{Cite Q|Q28291334}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prescher, Jennifer}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American women scientists
Category:21st-century American chemists
Category:University of California, Irvine faculty
Category:University of Wisconsin–La Crosse alumni
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni