Leeds alumnus awarded Royal Medal

A Leeds alumnus has been awarded one of the Royal Society’s Royal Medals for his work in biomolecular mass spectrometry.

Emeritus Professor Howard Morris studied Chemistry and Maths at the University in 1967, and achieved his PhD in Biophysics here in 1970.  He went on to join Imperial College London in 1975, and worked in the Department of Life Sciences.  He founded the Imperial College Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry Group.

The award recognises how Professor Morris has improved the understanding of living systems at a molecular level, in health and disease, using advanced spectrometry to explain the structures of new-found, biologically active materials.

His entrepreneurship in speeding up the production of medicinal products through characterising biopharmaceutical molecules is also recognised by the award.

Although he has worked at Imperial for many years, Professor Morris says that he owes a lot to his time at Leeds: “I started my career in studying the mass spectrometry of biopolymers during my PhD in the Astbury Department of Biophysics where I developed the first successful method for determining protein-derived sequences by mass spectrometry.”

The Royal Medals, also known as the Queen’s Medals, are given every year to the biggest contributors in physical, biological and applied sciences.

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