Area professor wins $250,000 science prize

Joe DeSimone, a chemistry professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and chemical engineering professor at N.C. State University, has won a $250,000 prize for his work in nanotechnology.

DeSimone is the recipient of the inaugural $250,000 Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine for his invention and use of the new technology, called PRINT. It is being used to advance treatments for cancer and vaccines for malaria, pneumonia and dengue.

Northwestern University’s International Institute for Nanotechnology established the Kabiller Prize earlier this year to recognize achievements in the field of nanotechnology and its application to biology and medicine. It is named for Northwestern donor David Kabiller, a co-founder of AQR Capital Management, a global investment management firm. The prize was presented to DeSimone in Illinois.

The technology, called Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates, or PRINT for short, enables the fabrication of nanoparticles for advances in disease treatment and prevention. Based on this work, DeSimone founded the startup company Liquidia Technologies in Research Triangle Park.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Area professor wins $250,000 science prize."