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Carolyn Bertozzi
born 1966 · United States · Contemporary
Nobel Chemistry 2022
Founded bioorthogonal chemistry: reactions that proceed inside living systems without disturbing them.
Nobel Prize work
Bertozzi coined the term bioorthogonal chemistry and built its first practical tools: the Staudinger ligation and the copper-free, strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition. These reactions label glycans on the surface of living cells and animals without the toxicity of copper catalysts, letting researchers image sugars in living systems and inspiring targeted cancer therapies.