The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

Happy #WorldEngineeringDay to our wonderful chemical engineering grantees!

C. Diff Bacteria Can Weaken the Sick, But a Princeton Chemist Found a Fix Biological chemist Mohammad Seyedsayamdost found the antibiotic KCB is safe and effective against C. diff and preserves the microbiome

Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Mohammad Seyedsayamdost (Princeton University) "found the antibiotic KCB is safe and effective against C. diff and preserves the microbiome"

https://paw.princeton.edu/article/c-diff-bacteria-can-weaken-sick-princeton-chemist-found-fix

The Foundation invites you to a discussion on "The Future of Batteries" with pioneering scientists Héctor Abruña (Cornell University), Esther Takeuchi (Stony Brook University) and Gleb Yushin (Georgia Tech) on Mar. 23 at 2:30pm at the American Chemical Society National Meeting.

From Cytoplasm to Nucleus: a New Workflow to Improve Gene Therapy Odds Gene therapy holds the promise of curing disease; however, to be effective, the new gene must make it into a cell’s nucleus—a difficult task. UC San Diego Professor of Biochemistry Neal Devaraj’s lab has unveiled a new method that increases the efficacy of gene delivery while minimizing side effects

Researchers at UC San Diego, led by Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Neal Devaraj, "have unveiled a new method that greatly increases the efficacy of gene delivery while minimizing harmful side effects to the cell."

https://today.ucsd.edu/story/from-cytoplasm-to-nucleus

New ‘recipes’ for accelerating chemistry discoveries – with a dash of AI MOSAIC, developed at Yale, is an AI platform that offers experimental protocols and procedures across a range of chemistry, including drug design.

MOSAIC, developed at Yale University by Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars Timothy Newhouse and Victor Batista and colleagues, "is an AI platform that offers experimental protocols and procedures across a range of chemistry, including drug design."

https://ow.ly/JLuF50YmWQI

Visit Booth 735 at the American Chemical Society National Meeting Exposition Hall, featuring representatives from the Dreyfus Foundation, Beckman Foundation, The Kavli Foundation, Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Medical Research, and Research Corporation for Science Advancement!

Xiaowei Zhuang wins 2026 Ernest Solvay Prize | Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Congratulations to 2023 Dreyfus Prize winner Xiaowei Zhuang (Harvard University / HHMI) on being awarded then 2026 Ernest Solvay Prize!

https://www.chemistry.harvard.edu/news/2026/01/xiaowei-zhuang-wins-2026-ernest-solvay-prize

HOW TO BE A BATTERY RESEARCHER

#TBT to this great short film on how to be a battery researcher with Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Monica So (California State University, Chico)!

https://media.csuchico.edu/media/HOW+TO+BE+A+BATTERY+RESEARCHER/1_yvhcnk5v

2026 Fellows | Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Our mission is to make the world a better place through the advancement of scientific knowledge.

Congratulations to Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars Ashok Ajoy (UC Berkeley), Chibueze Amanchukwu (University of Chicago), Guosong Hong (Stanford University) and Marvin Parasram (NYU) on being named 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellows!

https://sloan.org/fellowships/2026-Fellows

63 Fellows Elected to the American Academy of Microbiology The American Academy of Microbiology elected 63 new fellows to the Class of 2026.

Congratulations to Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars Michelle O'Malley (UC Santa Barbara) Emily Derbyshire (Duke University), and Michael Jewett (Stanford University) on being elected to the American Academy of Microbiology (ASM)!

https://ow.ly/aZ5p50Yj59b

Sweetening the deal for sustainability — while removing carbon dioxide A two-step method for converting carbon dioxide into carbohydrates has potential applications in agriculture and biotech.

Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Peidong Yang (UC Berkeley) and colleagues, "have developed a two-step process that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and converts it into carbohydrates, aka sugars."

https://news.yale.edu/2026/01/21/sweetening-deal-sustainability-while-removing-carbon-dioxide

Happy #EngineersWeek from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation! We're celebrating all our wonderful chemical engineering grantees. #Eweek2026

Chemist Song Lin wins Snapdragon Prize | Cornell Chronicle The award recognizes innovation in modern pharmaceutical discovery and manufacturing.

Congratulations to Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Song Lin (Cornell University) on being awarded the 2025 Snapdragon Prize!

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/01/chemist-song-lin-wins-snapdragon-prize

A year after undermining Bredt’s rule, UCLA scientists have made cage-shaped, double-bonded molecules that defy expectations UCLA organic chemists can’t quit breaking the rules — and that’s a good thing!

"A year after undermining Bredt’s rule," UCLA scientists including Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Neil Garg (UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry) "have made cage-shaped, double-bonded molecules that defy expectations."

https://ow.ly/z13t50YfkVX

Researchers, led by Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Chibueze Amanchukwu (University of Chicago), "turned the conditions that unfortunately degrade battery components into a new, powerful technique for intentionally degrading the water pollutants known as... PFAS."

https://ow.ly/BjLp50Yfkx2

ICYMI: The Dreyfus Foundation's 2025 Year in Review is now online! #TBT

https://www.dreyfus.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CHDF_2025_Year_in_Review.pdf

New protective layer boosts lithium metal battery performance An ultrathin silver coating boosts crack resistance in solid electrolytes, enhancing the safety and longevity of lithium metal batteries.

Researchers, including William Chueh of (Stanford University) "have created an ultrathin silver coating for solid electrolytes that increases resistance to cracking, promising breakthroughs in the safety and longevity of lithium metal batteries."

https://ow.ly/ToYM50YfiJK

The Foundation invites you to hear renowned electrochemist and Dreyfus Prize winner Héctor Abruña (Cornell University) reflect on the defining moments that shaped his distinguished career at the American Chemical Society National Meeting session at 1:30pm on March 23.

Having people from different backgrounds brings different perspectives to the table and can bring a unique approach to solving problems in science.” - Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Richmond Sarpong (UC Berkeley)

https://ow.ly/otuf50Yfiw6

Is the 'love hormone,' oxytocin, also the 'friendship hormone'? - Berkeley News A UC Berkeley study found that social prairie voles lacking the receptor for oxytocin are slow to form friendships and less aggressive toward unfamiliar peers. This suggests a role for oxytocin in both the “approach” and “avoid” sides of maintaining friendships.

For Valentine's Day, we're revisiting this study from Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Markita Landry (UC Berkeley) and colleagues that "shows that the so-called love hormone, oxytocin, is also critical for the formation of friendships."

https://ow.ly/vpZ750Yajms

The search for the next big breakthrough at Princeton What will be the next blockbuster research to emerge from Princeton’s labs? No one can say for sure, but history tells us research universities “are where the really huge discoveries begin.” A sampling of the promising work that’s in progress here to address society’s most pressing challenges.

Nice article from Princeton University about the "search for the next big breakthrough," featuring Nobel Laureate David MacMillan, 2003 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2025/12/17/search-next-big-breakthrough-princeton

#TBT to last year's Jean Dreyfus Lectureship at Occidental College, featuring a multi-day visit by Emily Balskus (Harvard University )!

The Dreyfus Foundation is pleased to announce that Chemical Probes of Biological Systems is the topic of the 2027 Dreyfus Prize. The deadline for nominations is December 3, 2026.

For more information on the nomination process, please visit: www.dreyfus.org/dreyfus-prize/

Research unveils new way to make futuristic 2D materials A 40-year-old forgotten paper helped UChicago scientists develop a faster, more efficient method for synthesizing MXenes at a fraction of the cost

"A 40-year-old forgotten paper helped University of Chicago scientists," led by Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Dmitri Talapin, "develop a faster, more efficient method for synthesizing MXenes at a fraction of the cost."

https://ow.ly/CS0T50YacJM

Past Recipients - American Chemical Society American Chemical Society: Chemistry for Life.

For the International Day of Girls and Women in Science, we're celebrating the amazing winners of our American Chemical Society/ Dreyfus Award for Encouraging Women into the Chemical Sciences. #WomenInSTEM

https://ow.ly/7Buw50YabUp

‘To advance science, it’s important to blur the boundaries between the disciplines’ Stanford chemical biologist Carolyn Bertozzi studies sugars on the surface of cells to better understand their involvement in diseases, including cancer.

“The big breakthroughs often come when concepts from a different field get brought to bear on a problem for the first time.” - Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi (Stanford University), 1999 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/01/research-matters-carolyn-bertozzi

Manganese gets its moment as a potential fuel cell catalyst In a new study, chemists from Yale and the University of Missouri describe a method for designing more sustainable catalysts for converting carbon dioxide into formate.

A new study from Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Nilay Hazari (Yale University) and colleagues describes "a method for designing more sustainable catalysts for converting carbon dioxide into formate."

https://news.yale.edu/2026/01/06/manganese-gets-its-moment-potential-fuel-cell-catalyst

Researchers uncover new rules for designing protein-like polymers - Berkeley Engineering Findings could lead to eco-friendly plastics and other materials

Researchers at UC Berkeley, including Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Ting Xu, uncovered "new rules for designing protein-like polymers" that "could lead to eco-friendly plastics and other materials."

https://ow.ly/swwK50Ya6nJ

"There are lots of examples of how quickly nature solves problems, and we're learning how to do that in the laboratory"

- Frances Arnold of Caltech in Dreyfus-sponsored Chemistry Shorts film "Driving Reactions"

Stanford University’s Guosong Hong announced as inaugural recipient of the SPIE Biophotonics Discovery’s Impact of the Year Award SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, is celebrating the inaugural Biophotonics Discovery's Impact of the Year Award as well as its first recipient, Stanford University Associate Professor of materials science and engineering, Guosong Hong. Hong was officially honored at the Biophotonics Focus: Light-Based Technologies for Reproductive, Maternal, and Neonatal Health plenary during SPIE Photonics West on Sunday evening.

Congratulations to Guosong Hong (Stanford University), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, on being the inaugural recipient of the SPIE Biophotonics Discovery’s Impact of the Year Award!

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1113184