The Roy L. Whistler Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry 2012 is awarded to Peter Seeberger, Free University Berlin, Germany. The award recognizes scientists who have made outstanding contributions in carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry and with promise of continuing significant contributions. The award will be presented at the opening ceremony of the 26th International Carbohydrate Symposium in Spain next year.

Peter Seeberger received his B.S. from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, USA. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Samuel J. Danishefsky, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, USA, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He spent several years at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland, before taking up his current positions as Director at the Max-Planck Institute for Colloids and Surfaces in Potsdam and Professor at the Free University of Berlin, both Germany.

His research interests focus on the role of complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugates in information transfer in biological systems. His group has developed new methods for the automated solid-phase synthesis of complex carbohydrates and glycosaminoglycans that serve as molecular tools. Seeberger has published over 250 papers, two edited books and 24 book chapters and serves on the editorial advisory boards of twelve journals including Macromolecular Bioscience and ChemBioChem.

• Peter Seeberger, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
• Synthesis of Carbohydrate-Functionalized Quantum Dots in Microreactors
  R. Kikkeri, P. Laurino, A. Odedra, P. H. Seeberger,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49(11), 2054–2057.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200905053
• Determination of Carbohydrate-Binding Preferences of Human Galectins with Carbohydrate Microarrays
  T. Horlacher, M. A. Oberli, D. B. Werz, L. Kröck, S. Bufali, R. Mishra, J. Sobek, K. Simons, M. Hirashima, T. Niki, P. H. Seeberger,
  ChemBioChem 2010, 11(11), 1563–1573.
  DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201000020