Chemistry Professor Mahesh Lakshman has been awarded more than $4.5 million in research grants since coming to CCNY in 2000.
CCNY Professor of Chemistry Mahesh Lakshman has been awarded a $600,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation for “Novel Synthetic Platforms for the Modifications of Nucleosides.”
This award, the fifth that Lakshman has received from the NSF since 2003, will enable him to continue his efforts on the development of novel chemical methods for the modifications of nucleosides. The fundamental building units of genetic material, modified nucleosides possess applications that range from pharmaceuticals to fluorescent probes for biochemical and biological processes. Lakshman’s four previous NSF awards have supported his research on developing metal-catalyzed and uncatalyzed, as well as hypervalent iodine mediated, methods for chemically modifying nucleosides.
Over the course of the next three years, this latest award will enable Lakshman and his research group to obtain a fundamental understanding of novel chemical processes in order to achieve desired selective modifications of the nucleoside family of compounds via new methodologies. Research participants will also obtain professional hands-on experience in planning, developing, and performing chemical reactions, as well as the purification and characterization of products.
Since coming to CCNY in 2000, Lakshman has been awarded more than $4.5 million in research grants. He has received numerous accolades for his teaching and research at CCNY, including the President’s S.T.A.R. (Service, Teamwork, Action, and Results) Award, the Outstanding Mentor Award, the President’s Award for Excellence and, most recently, the CCAPP Teacher of the Year Award. He has also received a CUNY Mentoring Award.
Lakshman is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and serves on the editorial board of its publication, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry. He has also received a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science travel fellowship and a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award.
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Syd Steinhardt
212-650-7875
ssteinhardt@ccny.cuny.edu