Gonzalo Cosa – co-winner of the 2009 European Society for Photobiology's Young Investigator Award

Kudos to Gonzalo Cosa, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, who has been named a co-winner of the European Society for Photobiology's (ESPs) Young Investigator Award. ESP awards a medal to young researchers (under age 35), who have conducted original research of exceptionally high quality in fields related to photobiology. Professor Cosa received his medal when he presented his work at the annual ESP congress in Wroclaw, Poland, September 5-10, 2009.

Professor Cosa's research is in the area of chemical approaches to biological imaging. His research group develops fluorescence-based strategies to explore and understand the effect of reactive oxygen species on cellular signalling and cellular function. His group is also implementing state-of-the-art fluorescence single molecule spectroscopy methods to investigate the molecular structure and dynamics of key protein/nucleic acid complexes of critical relevance in various diseases.

Professor Cosa was also the recipient of the 2009 Inter-American Photochemical Society Young Investigator Award. His doctoral thesis was recognized with the Governor General’s Gold Medal Award for the best Ph.D. Thesis in Sciences and Engineering in 2002 and he also received the 2003 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry Award for the Best Ph.D. Thesis in the Chemical Sciences, awarded annually to 5 scientists worldwide.