Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

University of Illinois chemist named Packard Fellow

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – University of Illinois chemistry professor Douglas Mitchell has been named a Packard Fellow in science and engineering. He is among 16 early career researchers honored by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation in 2012 for outstanding creative research.

Blending chemistry and biology, Mitchell works to understand the molecular roots of what make bacteria infectious, with the goal of addressing antibiotic resistance and exploring new antimicrobial agents.

“It has been a true delight watching Doug’s program evolve at Illinois,” said Jeffrey S. Moore, professor and interim head of the chemistry department. “Given the rapid rise of drug resistance and the threat of a post-antibiotic era, new strategies for suppressing antibiotic resistance must be deployed. Doug’s lab is tackling this by developing compounds that are capable of selectively killing pathogens as well as others that don’t kill, but rather render the pathogens incapable of causing disease. I’m very excited about the significant role that Doug is likely to have in developing personalized medicines for antibiotics.”

The Packard fellowship includes an unrestricted five-year, $875,000 award to support research of the recipient’s choosing. Mitchell’s award will support a new project that aims to develop unconventional methods to manipulate microbial genomes.

“Although the approach should work for studying the function of any gene, we are doing this for the purposes of discovering natural products more efficiently,” Mitchell said. “Natural products are our most valuable source of all medicines, thus finding new ways to rapidly discover them will be quite useful.”

Mitchell’s group focuses on a particular class of molecules found naturally in bacteria and archaea, called thiazole/oxazole-modified microcins (TOMMs). The group uses chemical and genomic techniques to identify the structure and function of TOMMs and the enzymes that produce them. Then, the researchers can apply that knowledge to develop inhibitors if the TOMM is pathogenic or exploit therapeutic properties if the TOMM is antibiotic.

Mitchell earned his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, before joining the Illinois faculty in 2009. He also is affiliated with the Institute for Genomic Biology and the department of microbiology at the U. of I.

Since its inception in 1988, the Packard Fellowship Program has named 489 fellows, including 13 U. of I. faculty members. Each year, new fellows are chosen from nominations submitted by the presidents of 50 top universities. The Packard Foundation is not the first to recognize Mitchell as one of the most promising young researchers in the U.S., as he received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2011.

Editor’s note: To contact Douglas Mitchell, call 217-333-1345; email douglasm@illinois.edu.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010