The International Chemical Biology Society is pleased to announce the winners of our annual ICBS Young Chemical Biologist and Global Lectureship awards.  Awardees will deliver their award lectures at the ICBS2025 Annual Conference in Paris, France this October 6-9, 2025.  

About the Awards:  
To recognize and advance the career development of young investigators in chemical biology, the ICBS has established a special session at its annual meeting to showcase up-and-coming chemical biologists through the ICBS Young Chemical Biologist Awards. Awardees are scheduled to speak in the Rising Stars session and will be further recognized for their achievements with a certificate and monetary award of $1,000 USD to each awardee.  

The ICBS Global Lectureship award was created to recognize distinguished investigators whose research has significantly advanced and impacted the field of chemical biology. Selection of the awardee is based on their impact on chemical biology research, service to the field, and demonstrated leadership in continuing the advancement of chemical biology around the globe. The award lecture will be delivered at this year’s ICBS conference and the awardee will serve as an ambassador of ICBS to promote chemical biology globally.  In addition to these opportunities, the award recipient will be highlighted on the ICBS website and presented an award certificate and a monetary award of $2,000 USD.  

2025  ICBS Global Lectureship Awardee:

Lixin Zhang, Ph.D.

East China University of Science and Technology, China

Lixin Zhang, Ph.D., Professor, East China University of Science and Technology (ICBS member since 2011). Prof. Zhang is being recognized for his groundbreaking achievements in chemical biology and his leadership in the international scientific community. In particular, his pioneering contributions in decoding the cell factory enabled a 1,000-fold increase in the production of avermectin, a microbial compound that revolutionized the treatment of parasitic infections. Its derivatives have dramatically reduced the incidence of River Blindness and have proven effective against a broad spectrum of parasites. The devastating River Blindness once brought profound human suffering, destroying the lives of millions and threatening the future of entire communities across Africa. Confronted with the enormous complexity of biomanufacturing processes, Prof. Zhang pioneered an intelligent manufacturing paradigm grounded in the 5M strategy – Mechanism, Model, Manipulation, Measure, and Manufacture. Under his leadership, China has emerged as the sole producer of avermectin worldwide. As a result, mass drug administration programs have nearly eradicated river blindness across Africa, dramatically reducing suffering and transforming public health in affected regions. This achievement not only highlights the power of the 5M strategy in overcoming biological complexity but also stands as a landmark contribution to global health and international cooperation. Beyond avermectins, Prof. Zhang has advanced the field of chemical biology through innovative research in microbial natural products and synthetic biology. His team has developed sustainable approaches to efficiently discover bioactive natural products, elucidate their biosynthetic pathways, and scale up the production of high-value compounds, including porphyrins, coenzyme Q10, and astaxanthin. Through his leadership as a past President of ICBS for two terms and his service to the broader community, he has advanced international collaboration and inspired new generations of scientists to come. This year’s ICBS Global Lectureship Award is a well-deserved recognition not only for his remarkable scientific excellence but also for the profound global impact of his discoveries and leadership, which continues to improve human health and expand the horizons of chemical biology.

Title of the Global Lectureship award lecture: “Orchestrating secondary metabolite production in streptomyce”

2025  ICBS Young Chemical Biologists Awardees:

Chayasith Uttamapinant, Ph.D.

Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand

Chayasith Uttamapinant, Ph.D., Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Thailand (ICBS member since 2018). Dr. Uttamapinant is being recognized for his lab’s research on the development of chemical and synthetic biology technologies with the goal of improving health and environmental sustainability, particularly for low- and middle-income countries. Recent efforts from the Uttamapinant lab include the deployment of molecular technologies for infectious disease management, the creation of a cell-based platform for plastic waste upcycling, and new technologies to monitor proteoforms and cellular translation events.

Award lecture: “Engineering multiphase protein condensates for DNA amplification and disease detection.”

Fleur M. Ferguson, Ph.D.

University of California San Diego, USA

Fleur M. Ferguson, Ph.D., UCSD, USA (ICBS member since 2019). Dr. Ferguson is being recognized for her contributions to the field of chemically induced proximity, where she has pioneered approaches that combine medicinal chemistry and chemical proteomics to expand the druggable proteome. Recent efforts from her lab include the application of the induced proximity approach to develop therapeutic leads for disease-driving proteins, including understudied kinases.

Award lecture: “Interrogating the Druggable Proteome with Proximity Pharmacology.”

Hannes Mikula, Ph.D.

TU Wien, Austria

Hannes Mikula, Ph.D., TU Wien, Austria (ICBS member since 2015). Dr. Mikula is being recognized for transformative contributions to bioorthogonal chemistry, particularly the development of next-level molecular tools for click-to-release reactions with unmatched kinetics and efficiency. His research has deepened the mechanistic understanding of tetrazine/trans-cyclooctene chemistry and led to the design of systems with superior chemical performance, enabling unprecedented bioorthogonal disassembly in biological settings. By redefining the limits of click-to-release chemistry, his work enables precise and efficient in situ control of molecular function, unlocking new potential for in vivo chemistry and chemical biology.

Award lecture: “Unlocking chemistry: Next-level bioorthogonal click-to-release.”