John B. Fenn Award to be Presented to John R. Yates III at ASMS Conference

John R. Yates III, a professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, California), will receive the John B. Fenn Award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference on Monday, June 3, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The award recognizes Yates for his development of automated, large-scale interpretation of peptide tandem mass spectral data. His SEQUEST algorithm laid a critical foundation for the field of proteomics and has enhanced the accuracy and effectiveness of mass spectrometry for understanding important biological and clinical questions.

Subsequent software developments that have followed from Yates’s work have continued to facilitate molecular and cellular biology research, in areas such as peptide and protein quantitation, identification of posttranslational modifications, and the use of DNA sequences to enable proteogenomic methods. Yates also enabled large-scale studies to identify the components of protein complexes in single-celled organisms and mammalian cells.

This award honors the memory of John B. Fenn, who shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for the development of electrospray ionization. Fenn joined ASMS in 1986 and remained an active member until his passing in 2010. The award is conferred at the ASMS Annual Conference with the presentation of a $10,000 cash award, a recognition plaque, and the award lecture.