Garcia and Berkowitz named ACS fellows

David B. Berkowitz

Benjamin Garcia

The American Chemical Society has named 37 fellows for 2024, including two American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology members, David B. Berkowitz and Benjamin Garcia. They will be recognized at a special awards ceremony at the ACS fall 2024 meeting in Denver.

Berkowitz is a professor of chemistry at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His lab synthesizes and evaluates small molecule tools for chemical biology. These include probe molecules designed to either mimic critical native functional groups or inactivate specific target enzymes. They are also studying the mechanisms behind pyridoxal phosphate enzymes, particularly human serine racemase. In 2015, Berkowitz was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Garcia is a professor and the head of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Washington University in St. Louis. His lab uses quantitative mass spectrometry–based proteomics to characterized modified proteins and proteomes. Garcia serves on the editorial board of the ASBMB journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics. In 2020, he won the Human Proteome Organization’s Discovery in Proteomics Sciences Award, which recognizes researchers for a single discovery in the proteomics field.

The ACS fellows program was created by the society's board of directors in December 2008 to recognize members for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession and the society. Past fellows who are also ASBMB members include Vahe Bandarian, JoAnne Stubbe and Penny Beuning.