John R. Yates III, 2019 Recipient
Dr. John R. Yates III is the recipient of the 2019 ASMS John B. Fenn Award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry, for development of automated, large-scale interpretation of peptide tandem mass spectral data. Dr. Yates’ SEQUEST algorithm laid a critical foundation for the field of proteomics and has enhanced the accuracy and effectiveness of mass spectrometry to understand important biological and clinical questions.
Subsequent software developments continue to empower molecular and cellular biology research, including peptide and protein quantitation, identification of posttranslational modifications, and the use of DNA sequences to enable proteogenomic methods. Dr. Yates also enabled large-scale studies to identify the components of protein complexes in single celled organisms and mammalian cells. Proteomics is now practiced by thousands of researchers all over the world to study proteins in almost every organelle in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The comprehensive analysis of cells and tissues is now routinely used to understand differences between normal and disease states.
Dr. Yates is Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute.