The Swedish Chemical Society awarded Adam Heller, chemical engineering professor emeritus and research professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering, with the Torbern Bergman Medal for medical breakthroughs that have improved the quality of life of millions of people with diabetes.
The medal, awarded biennially since 1967, is one of the most prestigious international awards in analytical chemistry and recognizes significant contributions in the field.
Adam Heller
Heller shared the award with fellow UT Austin faculty member Allen Bard, the Norman Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry and director of the Center for Electrochemistry in the College of Natural Sciences.
“This is a great honor for UT Austin,” said Tom Truskett, chair of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. “Both of these scientists have significantly changed the world with their contributions. This award celebrates not only their pioneering research but also the societal impact of their discoveries.”
He was honored for establishing the field of electrical “wiring” of enzymes, a method used to make electrical connections between electrodes and the catalytic redox centers of enzymes. His “wired” enzymes became the core technology of Abbott Diabetes Care’s FreeStyle Navigator™ system, which is used to continuously and accurately monitor subcutaneous glucose levels in diabetics.
The FreeStyle Navigator™ system provides minute-by-minute glucose monitoring through wireless transmitters, making it easier for diabetics to regulate glycemia, or sugar levels in the blood. The navigator model followed Heller’s original FreeStyle™ system that made glucose monitoring relatively painless by requiring minuscule blood samples and allowing users to test on forearms and not just the fingers. With more than a billion units produced annually, FreeStyle™ is believed to be the highest impact nanotechnology or micro-fluidic device to date.
Heller was recognized for his work on the first neodymium liquid lasers for medical therapies, early lithium batteries used in implanted medical devices and defense systems, and one of the first efficient solar cells.
Heller has 215 granted U.S. patents and 261 publications. He has received various national and international accolades, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the Spiers Medal and the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Allen Bard was recognized as a top researcher in the field of electrochemistry, the study of how electric currents effect chemical reactions and vice versa. Electrochemistry is used to, among other things, develop better batteries, measure the purity of drinking water, control corrosion and extract and purify metals. Bard and his coworkers have pioneered several novel methods for imaging chemical reactions, in some cases, down to the level of individual molecules.
Bard has published more than 900 peer-reviewed research papers and 75 book chapters and other publications, and he has received more than 23 patents. He is the recipient of the Wolf Prize, the Enrico Fermi Award and a National Medal of Science, among numerous other honors.
Named after 18th-century Swedish chemist and distinguished teacher Torbern Bergman, Heller and Bard received the medal at the 2014 Analytical Days Conference on June 9, in Stockholm.
