Burke receives iCON award for outstanding innovation

August 29, 2019
ktennant

Written by ktennant

The region’s most prestigious honor for a life sciences researcher has been awarded to Martin Burke, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean for research at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Burke pioneered a new field of medicine called molecular prosthetics to treat currently incurable diseases caused by loss of protein function. To enable this field, Burke created a 3-D printer for molecules, and his recent discovery of methods for replacing missing proteins with molecular prostheses are steps toward new treatments for anemia and cystic fibrosis.

After earning an undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University in 1998 and a Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2003, Burke also completed a medical degree at Harvard Medical School. In 2005, he joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois.

The iCON Awards celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding innovators and leaders whose work provides the basis for life sciences developments worldwide. The iCON awards ceremony will take place September 26, 2019, at the Chicago Botanic Garden.


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This story was published August 29, 2019.