UBC Reports | Vol. 49 | No. 1 | Jan. 2, 2003

Kudos

Strynadka awarded the 2002 Steacie Prize

Natalie Strynadka, associate professor of Biochemistry and an expert in the design of new antibiotics, has been awarded the 2002 Steacie Prize, Canada’s top award for young scientists and engineers.

Strynadka and her research team recently discovered that
an enzyme that plays a key role in the function of antibiotic-
resistant bacteria is abnormally structured -- a difference that allows the bacteria to survive in the presence of antibiotics. The information will help scientists design new classes of drugs to conquer potentially lethal infections caused by the bacteria.

An associate member of UBC’s Biotechnology Laboratory
and a member of the Centre for Blood Research, Strynadka joined UBC in 1997.

She is an Investigator of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Scholar.

Previous Steacie Prize recipients include Biotechnology Laboratory faculty members Brett Finlay and Terry Snutch.

The Steacie Prize is a Canadian award of $15,000 presented to a scientist or engineer of 40 years of age or less for outstanding scientific work. The prize is given by the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fund, a private foundation dedicated to the advancement of science and engineering in Canada.