LA JOLLA, CA— Jeffery Kelly , the H. Lutcher Brown Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, has been elected as a member of the European Academy of Engineering for his contributions to understanding how proteins fold, misfold and aggregate. Kelly’s findings laid the groundwork for therapeutics for diseases linked to proteins that fold incorrectly or clump together. Membership recognizes professionals who have made exceptional contributions to engineering and technology.
Founded in 1992 in Sweden, the European Academy of Engineering is a distinguished institution that gathers experts across diverse engineering fields to advise on a range of issues within policy, public health and education. Members are elected by their peers across 13 engineering classes, each representing a specialized discipline. Kelly is included within the Biomedical Engineering class.
Kelly’s research combines chemical, biophysical and biological approaches to probe the impacts of protein folding in a variety of disease contexts. In his work on transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy (neurodegeneration) and cardiomyopathy (a type of heart disease), Kelly uncovered the mechanism of protein clumping, along with strategies to inhibit it, which led to the creation of the FDA-approved therapeutics Vyndamax® (tafamidis) and Vyndaqel® (tafamidis meglumine).
For his research, Kelly recently received the Canada Gairdner International Award. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and granted the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2023 as well as the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2022, prior to which he has earned numerous other accolades.