Download Laudation 2017 - Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary

Laudation 2017
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor to present a laudation for Dr András Guttman and his team, the Winner of
the 2017 Gran Prize of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, for their
advancements in Translational Glycomics, especially for their research achievements and
development of a circulation cancer cell capture device.
Before going into Professor Guttman‘s biography and contributions to the field of
translational glycomics in more detail, I would like to give some information about the
evaluation criteria of the award. During the selection, the Board of Judges takes into
consideration the following seven aspects:
- Novelty (innovation, original idea)
- Social responsibility
- Sustainable thinking
- Environmental care
- Economic potential
- Technological aspect
- Interdisciplinary approach
The Board this year selected Dr Guttman and his MTA-PE Translational Glycomics Research
Group as the winner of the prize that satisfied all criteria of the award. The Board of Judges
shortlisted 5 applications, but Dr Guttman and his colleagues addressed one of the major
concern of our society by translating their glycomics research to cancer diagnostics and
treatment using a new and revolutionary approach.
Dr Guttman received his MS and doctoral degrees as a chemical engineer from University of
Pannonia in Veszprem, Hungary. From 1987 to 1989 he was a post doctoral fellow at
Northeastern University in Boston where he started working in the new field of capillary
electrophoresis. He joined Beckman Instruments in 1990, Genetic Biosysems in 1996,
Novartis in 2000 and received the Marie Curie Chair professorship from the European
Commission in 2004. This latter was the basis of establishing the Horvath Laboratory of
Bioseparation Sciences that he still direct in laboratories in University of Debrecen and
University of Pannonia in Veszprem.
By virtue of his innovative research in modern miniaturized electrophoresis methods, he has
made important contributions to DNA analysis, proteomics, and recently glycomics. He has
written more than 300 publications, 35 book chapters, edited 5 textbooks and authored 23
patents. Among a number of other contributions, Dr Guttman:
- Succeeded to obtain the first single-nucleotide resolution separation of DNA fragments,
opening up the potential for CE-based DNA sequencing.
- Developed a revolutionary replaceable gel technology, which was the foundation of the
automated capillary gel electrophoresis systems that enabled sequencing the human
genome in record time.
- Pioneered SDS gel electrophoresis in capillary format for rapid analysis of recombinant
protein therapeutics, now widely used in the biopharmaceutical industry;
-
Carried out groundbreaking work in analytical and translational glycomics by developing
a comprehensive glycosylation analysis workflow for biomedical research.
Professor Guttman plays active roles in organizing international meetings, chairs scientific
conferences, and serves on the editorial boards of more than a dozen international scientific
journals. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and past president of the
American Chemical Society Hungary Chapter. Among the numerous awards Dr Guttman has
received, are the Analytical Chemistry Award of the Hungarian Chemical Society in 2000, he
was named as a Fulbright Scholar in 2012, received the CASSS CE Pharm Award in 2013,
the Arany Janos medal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Pro Scientia award of the
University of Pannonia and the Dennis Gabor Award of the Novofer Foundation in 2014. Dr
Guttman was the recipient of the prestigious Dal Nogare Award of the Delaware Valley
Chromatography Forum earlier this year.
The MTA-PE Translational Glycomics Project has been established in the framework of the
Lendulet III program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences helping the research and
development of a special circulating cancer cell capture device that will improve the quality
of life for cancer patients.
The MTA-PE Translational Glycomics team presented outstandingly social responsible
attitude and strong commitment to provide a solution to prevent metastatic cancer for the
people who need it. By awarding him and his development team with this award, the Swedish
Chamber of Commerce in Hungary pays its deepest respect for this work.
I would like to thank you again on behalf of the Gran Prize Board of Judges !
Congratulations!