Monica Neugebauer, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and affiliate in the Department of Chemistry, has been selected as a 2026 Beckman Young Investigator by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Neugebauer and 11 other awardees, who each will receive $600,000 over four years to further their research, were selected from more than 400 early-career applicants for inventing methods, instruments, and materials with potential to open new research avenues in the chemical and life sciences.
“My group and I are extremely grateful to the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for their support of interdisciplinary research. This award is particularly meaningful to me as a chemical engineer who trained in chemistry labs and now leads a biochemistry research group,” says Neugebauer.
Neugebauer’s research focuses on harnessing the power of metalloenzymes — proteins that contain a metal — to speed up chemical reactions. Her lab aims to discover metalloenzymes that have evolved over billions of years and to engineer new ones using laboratory-based protein evolution.
As a Beckman Young Investigator, Neugebauer aims to expand the chemical capabilities of living systems. Her group will use synthetic biology to engineer cells that can efficiently manufacture valuable materials from simple building blocks like sugar.