Outstanding Oxford chemist awarded Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowship
Professor Philipp Kukura, from the University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry, has today been awarded a prestigious Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowship. This award supports exceptional mid-career research leaders to undertake high-quality, original research and build world-leading science teams in the UK.
Professor Professor Kukura will use the Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowship to develop a new technology for mass measurement of individual molecules. Image credit: akinbostanci, Getty Images.
The Faraday Discovery Fellowships, supported by a fund from the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, provide selected researchers with grants of up to £8 million over 10 years. This year, only nine researchers were selected from more than 280 initial applications.
Professor Kukura will use the grant to develop a new technology for mass measurement of individual molecules. He said: ‘Our goal is to uncover the processes that control how life functions, use this information to understand what goes wrong in disease and thereby identify new ways for treatment. Measuring the mass of single molecules is a great way to address this challenge, because it allows us to reveal the associated interactions and choreography.’
Ultimately, the aim for the project is to introduce a new experimental platform, which they will use in the first instance to understand two important processes. The first of these is how biomolecules self-assemble into objects that look like viruses – knowledge that could potentially be used to improve cell and gene therapies. The other is the exact mechanism by which biomolecules become targeted for destruction. If harnessed, this process could be used to naturally remove disease-associated molecules.
“I am incredibly grateful for this award - it gives the team at Oxford and our collaborators the time and security to really challenge the status quo and make a step change in our ability to understand biological function and regulation, and thereby optimise routes to intervention.”
Professor Kukura and his team and based at Oxford University’s Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, a pioneering interdisciplinary nanoscience research institute which spans the life, medical and physical sciences.
He said: ‘The Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery is a dream location for physical scientists to develop new approaches to enable biological studies and measurements that are currently impossible. It provides the perfect environment to balance pushing the boundaries of what is technologically feasible with what actually makes a difference in life science research.’
Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said: ‘This impressive new cohort of Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellows is exploring some of the most exciting questions in science. Backing exceptional researchers at our world-leading institutions is essential to advancing science and these 10-year fellowships provide the time and support needed to pursue bold, curiosity-driven research, build world-leading groups and establish global research partnerships. Together, they will help secure the UK's position at the forefront of scientific discovery and inspire the next generation of research talent.’
Further information about the 2026 Faraday Discovery Fellowships can be found on the Royal Society website.
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