Santa Barbara, Calif. May 10, 2007 -- Patrick Daugherty, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara has won the Young Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes an outstanding young contributor (awardees must be 40 years old or younger) to the field of biochemical technology based on the originality and significance of their work.

The Society recognizes Daugherty for his outstanding contributions to the field of protein engineering, including the development of novel peptide display methodologies, fluorescent protein sensors and library screening methodologies.

Daugherty will deliver the Biochemical Technology Young Investigator Award Lecture at the American Chemical Society meeting in Boston in August. The award, which includes a $3,000 prize, is sponsored by Genentech, Inc.

Daughertys research interests focus on developing and applying methods to diagnosis and treat disease by applying emerging biotechnologies to molecular and cellular engineering. Daughertys group has developed methods to create from scratch tailor-made biomolecules that could allow earlier and more accurate diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.

He came to UCSB in 1999 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. He received his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and his BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Daugherty has received the Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award in 2006, a National Science Foundation Career Award in 2005, and the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Research Award in 2003.