The Protein Society has selected Shuguang Zhang to receive the 2020 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, which recognizes a recent, highly significant contribution to the application of chemistry in the study of proteins. In its announcement, The Protein Society said:

Dr. Zhang is widely seen as a founder of the field of peptide nanomaterials. He discovered a class of ionic self-complementary peptides that undergo molecular self-assembly to form well-ordered nanofibers and membranous structures. Dr. Zhang went on to show many important applications of this class of peptide materials as carriers for controlled drug delivery and as the building blocks of scaffolds for tissue regeneration and accelerated wound healing. He was at the forefront of showing that 3-D cell culture offers a more realistic micro- and local-environment than 2-D culture, and he demonstrated the utility of 3-D culture in basic cell biology, tumor biology, high-content drug screening, and regenerative medicine. His contributions have transformed our basic understanding of the biochemical basis of molecular self-assembly and its application in the field of biomedical engineering.

The awards are scheduled to be conferred at the World Conference on Protein Science 2020 (WCPS2020) in Sapporo, Japan, July 6–10.