Merck Presents Bioseparations Award to American Student

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced that Ying Li, from The Pennsylvania State University, has won the company's Life Science Award in Bioseparations. The award was open to students from U.S. or Canadian universities who are working on cutting-edge bioseparations research, and who show potential to be future leaders in the field.

Li was recognized for her research on novel strategies to control membrane fouling and enhance performance during ultrafiltration of plasmid DNA, and received the top prize of $10,000.

"Merck recognizes that the academic community is the foundation and future of life science," said Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive board and CEO, Life Science. "It is our goal to support and reward upcoming leaders of our industry and establish opportunities to connect and collaborate, so that together we can develop impactful advancements in bioseparations research."

Entries were judged on level of innovation, impact to industry, and scientific rigor and communication. Three finalists were also recognized and each received $1,500. They are:

Daniel Greene, University of Delaware - Characterization of precipitate microstructures formed during protein purification

Rudra Mukherjee, University of Arkansas - Recombinant platform for production and purification of a novel anti-Candida peptide

Rahul Sadavarte, McMaster University - Analytical laterally-fed membrane chromatography for rapid detection of monoclonal antibody oxidation

This is the second year the competition has been held in the U.S. and Canada. A similar award program is offered in Europe.