Professor Mathew Horrocks, has been named winner of the RSC’s Jeremy Knowles Award, for the generation of single-molecule fluorescence microscopy approaches for visualising protein aggregates in neurodegenerative disease and protein-membrane disruption, and their application in drug discovery. Mathew receives £3000, a medal and a certificate. The Royal Society of Chemistry’s prizes have recognised excellence in the chemical sciences for more than 150 years. This year’s winners join a prestigious list of past winners in the RSC’s prize portfolio, 60 of whom have gone on to win Nobel Prizes for their work, including 2022 Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi and 2019 Nobel laureate John B Goodenough.A major focus of Professor Horrocks' group is understanding how diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS start and progress. These conditions often begin years before symptoms appear, with small numbers of ‘misbehaving’ molecules. They develop single-molecule imaging and microfluidic technologies that can pick out these early warning signs from a tiny amount of patient sample.On receiving the prize, Professor Horrocks said; RSC logo It’s a wonderful recognition not just of my own work, but of the many students, postdocs, clinical collaborators and industrial partners I’ve been fortunate to work with. For me, this award underlines the value of using physical chemistry to tackle real biological and medical problems, and it motivates us to push our single molecule approaches even further towards understanding disease and improving diagnosis. Professor Mathew Horrocks Professor of Biophysics The Jeremy Knowles Award is one of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Research & Innovation Prizes, given in celebration of exceptional people advancing the chemical sciences across industry and academia.Dr Helen Pain, CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said; Chemistry and chemists are everywhere in daily life and in our society, and our prizes reflect that depth and diversity. Our Research & Innovation prize winners include teams and individuals, professors and apprentices, as well as people from all around the world and in a wide range of roles and sectors. Each person’s contribution plays a vital role in advancing human knowledge and bettering the world that we all live in.I extend my warmest congratulations to Mathew on the Jeremy Knowles Award. Winning an RSC Prize is a remarkable achievement. You join the ranks of a star-studded roster stretching back over 150 years, including several dozen who went on to win Nobel Prizes. Our winners are exceptional role models for our communities, and we’re so pleased to be celebrating such an extraordinary cohort this year. Dr Helen Pain CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry The full suite of RSC Prizes comprises Volunteer Recognition Prizes, Research & Innovation Prizes, Education Prizes (announced in November), the Inclusion & Diversity Prize, and the Horizon Prizes – team prizes given to scientific collaborations innovating and conducting cutting edge research at the frontiers of chemistry. Find out more about all the RSC prizes Horrocks Group website Tags Prizes and Awards Research This article was published on Tuesday 16 June 2026
