Chemistry Biology Interface open prize: Khorana Prize

Key Information

Deadlines

• Nominations open 15 October.
• Nominations close 14 January, 17:00 GMT.

Eligibility

Individuals named in any of the following roles during the nomination and judging period are not eligible to nominate or be nominated:

• Chemistry Biology Interface Prize Committee members
• RSC Subject Community Presidents
• RSC Prize Committee members
• Trustees of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Royal Society of Chemistry staff 

Nominators:

• Only RSC members can nominate for this prize.
• Nominees may NOT nominate themselves.

Nominees:

• The prize is open to RSC members only. This will be checked by RSC staff and the nominee’s RSC membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination – it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process.
• There are no career stage restrictions associated with this prize.
• Nominees can only be considered for one of our Research & Innovation Prizes in any given year. In a case where a nominee is nominated for more than one prize independently, RSC staff will ask the nominee which prize they would like to be considered for.
• We will not consider nominations of deceased individuals.
• We particularly encourage nominations of disabled people, those who work part-time, or whose career has spanned a break for any reason – for example, a period of parental or adoption leave, caring responsibilities, long-term illness, family commitments, or other circumstances. We understand that these can impact a nominee’s career in different ways, and encourage nominators to use the space provided on the nomination form to explain the nature and impact of the nominees’ individual circumstances (see 'Guidelines for Nominators' for further details).
  • Please do not hesitate to contact the team at awards@rsc.org should you have any questions about the above.

Guidelines for nominators

General information

• When nominating previous RSC prize winners, please remember that a person cannot be awarded twice for substantially the same body of work.
• Nominees should only be nominated once for this prize in any given prize cycle. In cases where we receive more than one nomination for the same nominee, only one nomination will go forward to judging.
• Since 2023, we have been trialling a process where all unsuccessful nominations will automatically rollover once, to be considered for the next round of the prize, unless the nominee's circumstances have changed to make them ineligible. This means that:
  • All nominations submitted for the first time for a 2024 prize will be considered for a 2025 prize. We strongly encourage nominators to update their nomination between cycles when the nomination window is open.
  • The RSC Prize Committee will review the outcomes from the trial in July 2025.

Submitting your nomination

Please use our online nominations system to submit the following information:

• Your name, contact details, and RSC membership number (please contact the RSC Membership team if you do not know your membership details).Your RSC membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination – it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. The identity of nominators is not made known to our judging panels. The RSC reserves the right to amend nominations if necessary to ensure the anonymity of the nominator.
• Your nominee's name and contact details.
• An up to date CV for the nominee (no longer than one A4 side, 11pt text) which should include a summary of their education and career, and a maximum of 5 relevant publications or patents.
• Any information related to career breaks taken by your nominee - for example, a period of parental or adoption leave, caring responsibilities, long-term illness, family commitments, as well as any other circumstances including long-term conditions or disabilities. We understand that these can impact a nominee's career in different ways, and encourage nominators to use the space provided on the noination form to explain the nature and impact of the nominee's individual circumstances. This information will be shared with the committee, but before doing so RSC staff will always seek consent from the nominee in cases where special category data is mentioned. 
• A short citation describing what the nominee should be awarded for. This must be no longer than 250 characters (including spaces) and no longer than one sentence.
• A supporting statement (up to 750 words) addressing the selection criteria. Our guidance for nominators page has more information on writing this supporting statement.
• A statement (up to 100 words) describing how your nominee has contributed more broadly to the scientific community. A list of possible examples is outlined in the ‘selection criteria’ tab.
• References are not required for this prize and will not be accepted.

The RSC reserves the right to rescind any prize if there are reasonable grounds to do so. All nominators will be asked to confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no impediment, relating to professional conduct, to their nominee receiving this prize. All prize winners will be asked to sign the RSC’s Code of Conduct Declaration for Recognition. 

Selection Criteria and Judging Panel

Our selection committees base their evaluations on the overall quality of relevant contributions and achievements by nominees, in relation to the selection criteria listed below.

The scientific content of any supporting publications, as described in the supporting statement, is much more important than publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which it is published.

The selection committee will consider the following aspects of nominations for this prize:

• Originality of research
• Impact of research
• Quality of publications and/or patents and/or software
• Innovation
• Professional standing
• Collaborations and teamwork
• Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator 

In an instance where multiple nominees are judged equally meritorious in relation to the above criteria, judging panels have the flexibility to use information provided by the nominator on the nominee’s broader contribution to the chemistry community as an additional criterion.

Examples of relevant contributions could include, but are not limited to:

• Involvement with Royal Society of Chemistry member groups/networks
• Teaching/demonstrating
• Effective mentorship
• Service on boards, committees or panels
• Leadership in the scientific community
• Peer-reviewer
• Promotion of diversity and inclusion
• Advocacy for chemistry
• Public engagement and outreach

Chemistry Biology Interface Prize Committee

• Mark Bradley, University of Edinburgh (Chair)
• Ysobel Baker, University of Southampton
• Ulrike Eggert, Kings College London 
• Gavin Miller, Keele University
• Louise Walport, Francis Crick 
• Andrew Williams, Slowave Therapeutics
• Lu Shin Wong, University of Manchester

History of the prize

Established in 2008, the Khorana Prize is named after Nobel Laureate Har Gobind Khorana.

Born in 1922, in Punjab, Khorana's father was keen to educate his family, making Khorana and his siblings the only literate children in the village.  Khorana attended high school in Multan where one of his teachers had a key influence on him. After obtaining his MSc in 1945 from Punjab University, in Lahore, Khorana moved to Liverpool on a Government of India Fellowship to complete a PhD under the supervision of Roger Beer. Following a postdoctoral year in Zurich, under the supervision of Vladimir Prelog, he continued his studies at Cambridge University where his interest in nucleic acids and proteins developed. Khorana moved to Canada in 1952 to work on the synthesis of ribotrinucleotides for protein synthesis at Vancouver University.

In 1960, Khorana became a citizen of the United States, where he spent the rest of his research years until retirement. At the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin he worked on nucleotide synthesis and cracking the genetic code. During this time he proved the existence of codons and confirmed that nucleotide arrangement determines a cell's chemical composition and function. From 1970 Khorana held the post of Alfred P Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry at MIT. His research included synthesis of the first artificial copy of the yeast gene and exploration of molecular mechanisms associated with cell signalling pathways in vertebrate vision.

In 1968 Khorana received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert Holley and Marshall Nirenberg for "their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis". In 2007, in Khorana's honour, the Government of India, the University of Wisconsin, and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum founded the Khorana programme to develop an international community of industrialist, scientists, and social entrepreneurs.

The prize was established through a bequest from Adrien Albert. In 2021, the purposes of this Trust were amended, and remaining monies were combined with other generous bequests and donations to become part of the RSC Recognition Fund.