Michael Diehl wins HSEMB Outstanding Young Scientist Award

The Houston Society for Engineering in Medicine and Biology (HSEMB) has awarded Michael Diehl the 2009 Outstanding Young Scientist Award for his investigations into the cooperative dynamics of proteins and their operation as highly organized and integrated assemblies. His investigations are linked to future drug delivery applications and understanding of diseases.

The award was presented to Diehl at HSEMB’s 26th Annual Houston Conference on Biomedical Engineering Research held March 19-20. The annual event attracts engineers, scientists, clinicians and medical researchers from many institutions and companies across Texas and Louisiana who are interested in discussing research and education topics associated with the application of engineering principles to biology and medicine.

Diehl, an assistant professor of bioengineering and of chemistry, uniquely combines synthetic technologies with advanced optical instrumentation to examine the collective motor motions and force-production of motor proteins. This capability allows him to dissect complex mechanisms that govern how subcellular objects move in cells and that are important for unraveling the molecular-scale causes of transport-related diseases, such as cancer and neuronal degeneration.

Diehl’s contributions in research and education have been recognized by several notable awards, including an Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (2006), a Welch Foundation Research Grant (2006), Rice University Hamill Research Innovation Award (2006), Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society (2007), Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering Medical Innovation Award (2007), and a Research Excellence Award from the W.M. Keck Foundation (2008).

Diehl joined the Rice in 2006 after completing his Beckman Senior Research Fellowship in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering departments at the California Institute of Technology. He has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles (2002), and a B.S. in Chemistry from The College of New Jersey (1997).