Dear colleagues, 

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Molecules 2022 Young Investigator Award is Prof. Dr. Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez. 

Dr. Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez serves as a Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His research interests are in antibiotic discovery, synthetic biology, computational biology, microbiology, antimicrobial peptides, and microbiome engineering. Prof. Dr. Cesar de la Fuente received his PhD degree at the University of British Columbia in 2014 and continued postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a leader of his generation of molecular engineers, chemists, and bioengineers, pushing the frontiers of antibiotic discovery, a field of upmost importance to human health and to our society. He has given over 200 invited lectures and has an outstanding publication record, comprising over 110 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and multiple international patents. Prof. Dr. Cesar de la Fuente was also named a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate. He is an NIH MIRA investigator and has received recognition (over 50 major awards) and research funding from numerous other groups. He is clearly a rising star in the field of chemical biology. Please join us in congratulating Prof. Dr. Cesar de la Fuente for his outstanding achievements. 

As the awardee, Prof. Dr. Cesar de la Fuente will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 30 June 2023 in Molecules after peer review, and an engraved plaque. 

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

Kind regards,
Molecules Award Team