'Pioneers in Miniaturization' Prizewinner Announced

David Beebe has been named the inaugural winner of the Pioneers in Miniaturization prize, receiving $5000 and a certificate. The award was established by the Royal Society of Chemistry's Lab on a Chip journal of Cambridge, England, and Corning Inc. of Corning, N.Y., to promote micro-and nanotechnology. The award presentation was made at the

At the Pioneers in Miniaturization award presentation are, left to right: Professor Andreas Manz, head of the Institute for Analytical Sciences in Dortmund, Germany; prizewinner David Beebe; Kou Murato, Life Sciences director for Tokyo-based Corning International KK; and Lab on a Chip editor Harp Minhas. (Photo courtesy of Harp Minhas/Lab on a Chip)

10th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and the Life Sciences (µTAS) held in Tokyo in November. Beebe, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is involved in the development and application of microtechnology to solve problems in biology and medicine. His recent projects include disposable non-electronic drug delivery patches for large molecule therapeutics and a line of microfluidic-based tools for answering basic cell biology questions related to cancer, developmental biology and stem cells. Professor Beebe also co-founded three companies to commercialize the technologies. Lab on a Chip and Corning said they hope the prize will be awarded annually. All scientists between the ages of 25 and 45 are eligible. Nominations for the 2007 award are being accepted; the deadline is Aug. 31, 2007.