2001 Young Investigator Award
Molecular and cell biologist Henry Rodriguez is a project leader in the Biotechnology Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His development of purifying genes as DNA fragment lengths has helped stream-line the enrichment process, with immediate application in the general area of genomics. His work has also led to greatly increased sensitivity of a polymerase chain reaction-based assay called ligation-mediated PCR in detecting and mapping oxidative damage to DNA in mammalian genes, an area of great importance in the fields of medical science, basic genetics, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. Recently, Rodriguez has been involved in the development of high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) for the measurement of oxidative damage to DNA caused by oxygen-derived free radicals. He is the co-founder of the Oxidative Stress and Aging Association, a society dedicated to the advancement of diagnosis and therapeutic approaches concerning oxidative stress and related diseases.