BioTools co-founder receives major scientific award

Professor Laurence Nafie, BioTools co-founder and chief scientific officer, has been awarded the coveted 2014 New York Society for Applied Spectroscopy (NYSAS) gold medal for outstanding contributions to the field of applied spectroscopy.

“In his role as co-founder and CSO of Biotools, Laurence has brought his expertise to bear in the development of our vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and raman optical activity (ROA) technologies and this has enabled BioTools to develop and manufacture the most advanced instruments based on these techniques. We are delighted for Larry whose contributions to his field have been so outstanding, and his recognition for his achievements is highly deserved,” said Dr. Rina Dukor, President of BioTools.

“It is a great honour to be awarded the NYSAS gold medal for 2014 and to be amongst a prestigious group of past winners of this converted award,” said Professor Nafie.

The technologies of VCD and ROA commercialised by BioTools are used extensively in a range of applications to help advance the understanding of the role chirality plays in areas of drug development. Applications such as absolute configuration determination and high order structure determination in both small and biological molecules respectively are an essential part of the discovery and development of new medicines to help meet the challenge faced by many working in the pharmaceutical sector. The technologies are used to obtain high-quality data about chirality early in the discovery of new molecules. Researchers are able to make decisions that will help determine the success or failure of the molecules in achieving clinical efficacy and safety, which is underpinned by pressure from market regulators.

BioTools Inc., http://btools.com.