Honorary Doctorate for Frances Arnold
The Department of Health Sciences and Technology is delighted that at its academic holiday ETH Zurich has awarded Frances Arnold an honorary doctorate.
Frances Arnold is Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry, and director of the Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. She has made outstanding contributions in the field of protein synthesis and modification. In particular, her groundbreaking approach for producing proteins with new properties using a method known as “directed evolution”, has received international attention. Frances Arnold demonstrated that repeating random, simultaneous mutation processes results in new proteins which subsequently can be identified by high-throughput screening.
Not only does her evolutionary approach achieve better results, qualitatively and quantitatively, but it is also less expensive than the conventional “rational redesign” approach, where proteins are constructed from scratch and then tested for their practical effect. Laboratories around the world have not been slow in applying Frances Arnold’s methods for developing enzymes, antibodies, proteins, metabolic mechanisms and even entire organisms for new technical and medical applications.
Most recently, Arnold’s research work has focused on the production of biofuels and the conversion of biomass (in particular cellulose) into ethanol, methanol und butanol, using enzymes. In her role as advisor to many leading companies she has forged links between academia and industry.
Frances Arnold has made significant achievements in both basic research and engineering; her innovative energy has influenced many researchers at ETH Zurich and worldwide. During the course of her career she has received many honours: in 2011 President Obama awarded her the US National Medal of Technology and Innovation; she was winner of the 2013 Eni Prize in Renewable and Nonconventional Energy, and in 2014 was invited to the US National Inventors Hall of Fame. Frances Arnold is one of only 11 people to be elected to all three American academies: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine.
On 21 November 2015 ETH Zurich has awarded Frances Arnold an honorary doctorate.
The above test is a translation of the laudatio held by Prof. Ralph Müller, Head of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, at the ETH Day 2015.
