A University of Missouri researcher is one of only a dozen recipients of this year’s National Medal of Science, announced by President Obama this week.
Frederick Hawthorne has won many awards over the last few decades, but now he’s receiving the nation’s highest honor for scientists.
“When the President of the United States honors you work, then that’s top of the line,” Hawthorne said.
Hawthorne is the director of the International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine at MU, which the University says it created largely to facilitate Hawthorne’s research with the chemical element Boron. Hawthorne is particularly excited about his most recent research into “Boron Neutron Capture Therapy” for cancer. He explains the process allows scientists to select cancer cells in the human body, label them with boron, and then bombard that boron with neutrons.
“The neutrons are captured by the boron nuclei, and they blow up and kill the cancer cell,” Hawthorne said.
Hawthorne says he’ll have more news about the results of that research soon. He says came to MU in 2006 because it’s the ideal place to do this research, because of the school’s medical program, and the nuclear reactor on campus which serves as a source of neutrons for the procedure.
“Other universities have pretty much shut down their nuclear activities,” Hawthorne said. “But luckily Missouri went ahead and advance their holdings in that area and are still doing so today.”
He says boron chemistry is useful in a number of other fields, including medicine, catalysis and everyday chemistry. According to a press release, Hawthorne will join the other National Medal of Science winners at a ceremony at the White House early next year.