It’s our pleasure to announce the winners 2025 of the SCS Scientific Award Programs. We would like to sincerely congratulate all winners for their outstanding scientific contributions, and we are looking forward to the Swiss Chemistry Science Night in Bern on September 19, 2025, where the official award ceremonies will take place. Award lectures will be organized as part of the program of one of our upcoming events.
Werner Prize 2025
Prof. Dmitry Katayev, University of Bern
receives the prize for his important milestones advancing light and electricity driven carbon-hydrogen (CH) functionalization methodologies for a variety of substances, spanning from common feedstocks to complex molecules and materials.
The prize is endowed with CHF 10’000 and a medal in bronze. The award lecture will take place at the SCS Spring Meeting in Bern on April 24, 2025.
Links:
Werner Prize website
Website Prof. Katayev
Picture: D. Katayev
Sandmeyer Prize 2025
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
namely Dr. Stephan Bachmann, Dr. Raphael Bigler, Dr. Dainis Kaldre, Dr. Dominique Kummli, Dr. René Lebl, Dr. David Linder, Dr. Ugo Orcel, Dr. Isabelle Prévot and Dr. Jörg Sedelmeier,
are awarded in recognition of the team’s outstanding achievements to enable the commercial manufacturing process of Divarasib.
The award is endowed with CHF 20’000. The award lecture will take place at the 17. Freiburger Symposium on April 4, 2025, and the SCS Fall Meeting in Zurich on September 4, 2025.
Links:
Sandmeyer Prize Website
Grammaticakis-Neumann Prize 2025
Prof. Julian G. West, Rice University, Houston, US
receives the prize for his creative and innovative research program focused on harnessing the unique reactivity of free radical intermediates using innersphere photocatalysis to enable powerful, previously impossible reactions.
The award is endowed with CHF 5’000. The award lecture will take place at the SCS Fall Meeting 2025 in Zurich on September 4, 2025.
Links:
Grammaticakis-Neumann Prize Website
Website of Prof. Julian G. West
Picture: J. G. West
SCS Senior Industrial Science Award 2025
Dr. Henrik Möbitz, Novartis Pharma AG
receives the prize for his outstanding contributions to medicinal and computational chemistry.
The prize is endowed with CHF 10’000. The award lecture will take place at the Swiss Industrial Chemistry Symposium in Basel on January 30, 2026.
Picture: H. Möbitz
SCS Industrial Science Award 2025
Dr. Myriem El Qacemi, Syngenta Crop Protection AG
receives the prize for her outstanding contributions to synthetic chemistry and its links to broader life sciences.
The award is endowed with CHF 7’000. The award lecture will take place at the SCS Fall Meeting in Zurich on September 4, 2025.
Links:
Website SCS Industrial Science Award Program
Picture: M. El Qacemi
Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award 2025
Prof. Jeremy Luterbacher, EPFL Lausanne
receives the prize for his development of an innovative technology towards depolymerizing lignin from biomass.
The award is endowed with CHF 10’000 and is sponsored by Syngenta Crop Protection AG. The award lecture will take place at the SCS Fall Meeting in Zurich on September 4, 2025.
Links:
Website Swiss Green & Sustainable Chemistry Award
Website of Prof. Luterbacher
Picture: J. Luterbacher
Balmer Prize 2025
Dr. Thomas Hari and Dr. Daniel Brunner, Gymnasium Thun
werden geehrt für die Entwicklung einer Vielzahl von innovativen, interdisziplinären Projekten für das gemeinsame Schwerpunktfach Biologie-Chemie sowie für Unterrichtsmodule im Rahmen der MINT-Förderung am Gymnasium Thun.
Der Preis ist mit CHF 4’000 und einer Bronze Medaille dotiert.
Der Vortrag findet im Rahmen der ChemEdu 2025 in Zurich statt.
Links:
Balmer Prize Website
Picture: T. Hari, D. Brunner
Dr. Max Lüthi Prize 2025
Herr Nils S. Hänggi, FHNW Muttenz
wird geehrt für seine herausragende Bachelorarbeit «Production and Characterization of Metabolites of Synthetic Cannabinoids».
Der Preis ist mit CHF 1’000 und einer Bronze Medaille dotiert.
Links:
Dr. Max Lüthi Preis Website
Picture: N. S. Hänggi
RGCC Cancer Drug Discovery Award 2025
Dr. Zuzanna Kozicka, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
receives the award for her PhD thesis at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, entitled “Molecular glue degraders of cyclin K”.
Picture: https://www.zuzannakozicka.com
and
Dr. Lukas Schneider, University of Zurich
receives the award for his PhD research on “Novel Photoactivatable Agents for Cancer Treatment”.
The award is endowed with CHF 5’000 for each of the two candidates and is sponsored by RGCC International.
Links:
Cancer Drug Discovery Research Award
Picture: L. Schneider
David Spichiger, Céline Wittwer, SCS
27.11.2024