Every year at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference, awards are presented to honor veteran and newcomer researchers making notable contributions in the field of mass spectrometry (MS). Example of these awards are the Research Awards (1). These are meant to promote the research of academic scientists within the first four years of joining the tenure track or research faculty of a North American University at the time the award is conferred. The awards are presented annually and fully funded by Bruker, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Waters Corporation. This year, one of the Research Award winners was Varun Gadkari of the University of Minnesota.
Varun Gadkari is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota (2). He received his bachelor’s degree and PhD in biochemistry from The Ohio State University in 2012 and 2017, respectively. He also received postdoctoral training from the University of Michigan from 2017 to 2022. Gadkari’s research focuses on analytical chemistry, structural biology, and biophysics, among other topics. His research group, the Gadkari Research Group, aims to “bridge the gap between analytical and biological chemistry to make previously inaccessible biomolecular structural measurements” (2). They aim to create mass spectrometry (MS)-based structural biology techniques to make measurements of natively prepared nucleic acids, proteins, and their complexes. Their work has been recognized in various ways, including holding a 2020 ASMS seminar (3).
Recently, we sat down with Gadkari to learn about his career and how he got to where he is now. In the final section of our interview, he shares advice he would like future generations of mass spectrometrists to know.
Thank you for following our conversation with Gadkari! If interested in other ASMS 2025 award winners, we also have interviews with Vilmos Kertesz, Michael Shortreed, Jennifer Geddes-McAlister, and more!
(1) Research Awards. American Society for Mass Spectrometry 2025. https://www.asms.org/about-asms-awards/research-awards (accessed 2025-5-29)
(2) Varun Gadkari. University of Minnesota 2025. https://cse.umn.edu/chem/varun-gadkari (accessed 2025-5-29)
(3) ASMS. Varun Gadkari, University of Michigan. Vimeo 2020. https://vimeo.com/478206260 (accessed 2025-5-29)
