The medal recognises his work in bioprocess engineering and the development of integrated modelling-experimental platforms for biological systems.

The IChemE Donald medal is named after Professor Maxwell Donald who was one of the pioneers in the field of Biochemical Engineering. As a chemical engineer in the 1930s at UCL he was instrumental in helping Professor Jack Drummond – the first UCL Professor of Biochemistry – isolate pure vitamin A. His collaborative work continued into the 1950s by which time he was Head of Department in Chemical Engineering. One of his lasting contributions was the establishment of a joint diploma and later a Master’s programme in biochemical engineering at UCL. Outside of his university, he helped launch Biotechnology and Bioengineering – the first academic journal for the subject in 1959.

Every year the Donald medal is presented to chemical engineers who have made significant contributions to the field of biochemical engineering. Professor Athanasios (Sakis) Mantalaris has been at the Department since 2000 when he joined as a Governor’s Lecturer. Since then, his outstanding research in the fields of Stem Cell Bioprocessing, Tissue Engineering and Mammalian Cell Bioprocessing have led to him being recognised as one of the leaders in the field of biochemical engineering.

Three other winners associated with Imperial College London were featured in the 2015 roll call – Professor Costas Pantelides who will receive the Sargent Medal and retired Professor Roger Sargent who will receive the MM Sharma Medal as well as alumnus Ed Daniels, Executive Vice President - Commercial and New Business Development at Shell, who will receive the Council Medal.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Mantalaris for this award. We wish him great success and continued recognition in the future!

The full list of the 2015 IChemE medal and prize winners can be found here.