Sanabria receives 2019 Young Fluorescence Investigator award

CLEMSON – College of Science physicist Hugo Sanabria has been named the recipient of the 2019 Young Fluorescence Investigator award by the Biophysical Society.

The peer-nominated award is given to a pre-tenured investigator for outstanding achievements in the use of fluorescence methodologies in Biology and Biophysics, according to Horiba Scientific, which sponsors the prize. It consists of a $1,000 honorarium and an invitation to present a 15-minute research talk, which was held on the first day of the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society on March 2 in Baltimore.

“By looking at the list of past winners, it is a great honor to have been nominated and, even better, to be selected for this award,” said Sanabria, an assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy. “Previous awardees are researchers whom I have followed throughout my career, and I have tremendous respect for them. This would not have been possible without my mentors like professor Neal M. Waxham at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and professor Claus A. M. Seidel at Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf.”

In 2018, Sanabria earned one of the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious honors when he was named a recipient of the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award. This year, he was the recipient of the Board of Trustees awards for excellence.

Sanabria joined Clemson University in 2014. He studies the structure, dynamics and function of biomolecules using state-of-the-art fluorescence spectroscopic tools. Among the biomolecules is the protein calmodulin that is responsible for regulating vital functions in the body, such as heart beating, muscle contractions, and learning and memory. His research program is funded primarily by NSF and National Institutes of Health.