Bhagi-Damodaran lab receives Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/25/2024) – The Bhagi-Damodaran lab has been selected to receive the Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award at the 2025 Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference. McKnight Land-Grant Professor Ambika Bhagi-Damodaran will give an invited talk at the conference to give an overview of the research accomplishments of the lab in the field of cellular signaling and biocatalysis. The conference will take place in California in January 2025 and is themed “Chemical, Energetic and Metabolic Transformations.”
The Bhagi-Damodaran research group in the Department of Chemistry is working to develop novel molecular approaches to modulate the biological functions of iron enzymes, addressing long-standing challenges in health and energy. Their work spans biological, inorganic, medicinal, and computational chemistry, with a key focus on shortening treatment times for tuberculosis and chemo-resistant cancer. Additionally, they aim to understand and reprogram cellular mechanisms related to hypoxia, a common issue in tumors, and work towards discovering eco-friendly alternatives for industrial chemical synthesis. The group is currently made up of seven graduate students and one research scientist.
The Paul Saltman Young Investigator Award is given each year to a young investigator who has made outstanding contributions to the field of bioinorganic chemistry and includes an Award Lecture at the annual Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference, in California. This esteemed award honors Paul Saltman, a biologist and trailblazer in exploring the roles of metals in human health. He played a key role in establishing the Gordon Research Conference "Metals in Biology" (MIB), which has significantly influenced the global advancement of bioinorganic chemistry. The conference is widely recognized as the leading forum for groundbreaking research in this field.