Dr. Ben Garcia, 2025 St. Louis Award Winner
Dr. Mikhail Berezin, Chair of this year’s award jury, announced Dr. Benjamin Garcia as the winner of the 2025 St. Louis Section ACS Award. Dr. Garcia is the Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University Medical School. He earned his BS in Chemistry from UC Davis in 2000, working with Prof. Carlito Lebrilla, and obtained his PhD from the University of Virginia in 2005 under Prof. Donald Hunt. After an NIH postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Neil Kelleher at the University of Illinois, he joined the Molecular Biology Department at Princeton University, then became a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in 2012, where he was promoted to full professor in 2016 and named the John McCrea Dickson M.D. Presidential Professor in 2017, and later moved to Washington University in 2021.
The Garcia lab has been developing and applying state-of-the-art mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic approaches and computation for interrogating protein modifications, especially those involved in epigenetic mechanisms such as histones during human disease. One of the Garcia lab’s most significant contributions has been the development of novel MS based methods coupled with metabolomic labeling for the meticulous high-throughput tracking of hundreds of combinatorial histone modifications in a single experiment which has helped elucidate the mechanisms of various human diseases, cancer progression and developmental disorders. His research has also demonstrated links between the gut microbiome and histone acetylation, revealing how microbial metabolites influence epigenetic regulation through nutrient metabolism. He has over 450 publications, with 110 since 2021, cited over 59,000 times.
He has received numerous awards, including the ASMS Research Award, NSF CAREER award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the PITTCON Achievement Award, and the ASMS Biemann Medal and the Eastern Analytical Symposium Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, American Chemical Society (ACS), and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Ben currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Proteome Research, the Molecular and Cellular Proteomics journal and Molecular Omics journal, and is an Associate Editor for both the Analytical Chemistry, and for Mass Spectrometry Reviews journals. He is President-Elect of U.S. Human Proteome Organization (US HUPO), and was elected Chair of the ACS Analytical Chemistry Division. He actively mentors underrepresented and historically marginalized scientists, receiving recognition with awards such as the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award, the ASMS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Mentorship Award. He is currently the Co-Chair of the DEIR committee for the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry, and is a member of the ACS Committee on Minority Affairs. He serves as a mentor for the ACS Connects student program, and a mentor for the ASBMB MOSAIC junior faculty program. He was named an Analytical Scientist Leader and Advocate, and was recently included in the Atlas of Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists.
St. Louis Award Night details will be forthcoming in a later post.
