Carol V. Robinson Wins 2023 John B. Fenn Award for Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry

Carol V. Robinson of the University of Oxford has been named the 2023 recipient of the ASMS John B. Fenn Award for Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry. Robinson will receive the award at the 2023 ASMS Conference in Houston, Texas, which takes place June 4–8.

Carol V. Robinson | Image Credit: © ASMS - asms.org

The award honors the memory of John B. Fenn, who shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for developing electrospray ionization. The award is conferred at the ASMS Annual Conference with the presentation of a $10,000 cash award, a recognition plaque, and an award lecture.

Dr. Robinson is most known for developing mass spectrometry methods for the analysis and characterization of membrane proteins. Her work has greatly improved how we understand membrane protein complex structure and what role lipid binding plats in membrane protein function. This has had great impacts on drug discovery and disease mechanisms. Most notably, Robinson has:

1. Pioneered method development that enables gas phase analysis of membrane protein complexes
2. Applying ion mobility MS and collision-induced unfolding methods to investigate lipid-membrane protein binding
3. Applying high-resolution MS to resolve the complexity of lipid-protein binding events
4. Created innovative methods for the native analysis of membrane protein complexes and lipid binding.

Robinson’s achievements have also been recognized on a global scale. In 2013, for her services to science, she was elevated to the title of “Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE)”. Despite her achievements, Robinson remains dedicated to explaining protocol and giving advice to the research community, making sure that others can implement her methods as well and opening the field of mass spectrometry to many more researchers around the world.