Congratulations to Dr Fleur Ferguson, recipient of the 2026 RSC Medicinal Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship!
The annual RSC Medicinal Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship recognises a researcher who has made a significant contribution to medicinal chemistry and drug discovery in their early independent academic career. The RSC Medicinal Chemistry Editorial Board have selected Dr Fleur Ferguson from the University of California San Diego as the winner this year.
“I am deeply honored to receive the RSC Medicinal Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This recognition belongs to my incredible team of students, postdocs, staff, and collaborators at UC San Diego, whose creativity and dedication drive our work forward every day. Our research developing novel induced proximity technology platforms represents the collaborative spirit that makes medicinal chemistry such an exciting field. I hope this award helps spotlight the power of chemical innovation in enabling new therapeutic strategies for patients with neurodegeneration, cancer, and other unmet medical needs.”
About Fleur:
Assistant Professor Fleur Ferguson leads a research group in UC San Diego’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences developing next-generation proximity-pharmacology technology platforms. Her laboratory integrates chemical synthesis, mass spectrometry, and cell biology to create therapeutic strategies for diseases where conventional approaches have failed. Ferguson received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, advised by Professors Chris Abell and Alessio Ciulli, and completed postdoctoral research with Professor Nathanael Gray at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her innovative work in chemical biology has been recognized with major awards including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NSF CAREER, International Chemical Biology Society Young Chemical Biologist Award, Pew Biomedical Research Scholar Award, and early career honors from multiple foundations.
