We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Molecules 2020 Tu Youyou Award is Prof. Mauro Maccarrone.

Mauro Maccarrone is a Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at University of L’Aquila. He is also the Director of the Lipid Neurochemistry Laboratory at the European Center for Brain Research (Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome). His group is comprised of four units, and they are highly integrated and have collaborated for more than 15 years (they are located at Tor Vergata Univesity of Rome, University of Teramo, Santa Lucia Foundation, and Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, respectively). Stipend holders and visiting scientists from abroad frequently visit the group for training purposes. In the last five years, Prof. Maccarrone was the tutor of six PhD students and four post-doc fellows at the University of Teramo. Moreover, he tutored two PhD students and two post-doc fellows at Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome. Prof. Maccarrone’s work has contributed in a major way to a novel class of lipid signaling molecules: the endocannabinoids. He regularly publishes in prestigious journals and his work is highly cited. Most importantly, his work has great translational potential and has opened new avenues for the treatment of a number of diseases that altered endocannabinoid functions with a pathogenic role. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Prof. Mauro Maccarrone for his outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Prof. Mauro Maccarrone will receive an honorarium of 3000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31 July 2021 in Molecules after peer-review, and an engraved plaque.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.

Molecules 2020 Tu Youyou Award Evaluation Committee