Tian Qin Named Vertex Scholar
The recipient of this year’s Vertex Scholar Award is Tian Qin, a third year student in the Professor John Porco’s Research Group. His selection was based on his development of an extremely elegant and enabling synthetic methodology towards a very difficult series of natural product targets with anticancer and cytotoxic activity. This work was recently published as a Communication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. His contributions to student mentoring are also recognized by his selection for this award award. Tian came to BU in 2008 from the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Science, where he majored in organic materials in chemistry.
The 2011 award is made possible by Vertex Pharmaceuticals who have provided this generous graduate fellowship in organic chemistry for an exceptional 2nd, 3rd or 4th year graduate student in our Ph.D. program. The BU-Vertex Educational Partnership Program, established in 2010, offers scholarships funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.
Each award funds a student’s stipend, fees, and research supplies for one year. The Vertex program is an important unencumbered gift to BU Chemistry. As part of its aim to promote cooperation between industry and academia, Vertex provides the Scholars with access to mentoring from their scientists. Vertex, with a market capitalization of more than $7.2 billion, is committed to the discovery and development of breakthrough small-molecule drugs for serious diseases.