NATIONAL AWARD FOR CHEMISTRY IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST HONORS DRUG SAFETY PIONEER
MARYA LIEBERMAN IS BEING RECOGNIZED FOR HER DEVELOPMENT OF PAPER ANALYTICAL DEVICES (PADs) IMPACTING DRUG SAFETY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN THE UNITED STATES AND AROUND THE WORLD
Cambridge, MA -- January 22, 2025 -- Marya Lieberman, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame is being presented with the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest for her work in the development of low-cost, high quality Paper Analytical Devices (PADs) used to identify fake and substandard medicines for over sixty different pharmaceuticals, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In addition to the development of the devices she has also been integral in the process of training scientists and regulators to use this technology for the public well-being.
The World Health Organization has estimated that substandard and falsified drugs kill hundreds of thousands of children under age five each year and that one in ten medicines in LMICs are substandard or falsified. Professor Lieberman’s PAD is a complete lab-on-paper designed to spot fake and substandard medicines without the need for electrical power, chemicals, solvents or expensive instruments. Conceptually similar to an at-home pregnancy test the PAD can “fingerprint” over 60 different pharmaceuticals and identify substandard versions of many compounds, all for about $0.50 a test. A validation study in Tanzania showed that 20 drug inspectors using PADs could analyze 3,000 samples in under six weeks with 94% accuracy. Using the PAD in routine drug surveillance is estimated to reduce the cost of detecting harmful products by a factor of eight. The significance of this technology to drug safety in LMICs has been recognized by the support of organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, Indiana CTSI, the Walther Cancer Center, and the Lilly Foundation.
In 2016, Professor Lieberman designed a program, the Distributed Pharmaceutical Analysis Lab (DPAL), which involves hundreds of undergraduates at US colleges using analytical instruments in their institutions to analyze samples in collaboration with LMICs. There are currently students at 28 US schools in the program which has resulted in the identification of several substandard antibiotics in use in the African countries.
In the United States Professor Lieberman has developed a PAD that can detect illicit street drugs. This idPAD is being trialed by the Coroner’s Office in Indianapolis to identify drugs found at fatal overdose scenes and by groups in Chicago to warn drug users of fentanyl contamination in drugs. In projects funded by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Lieberman’s students are field testing the idPAD on street drugs and developing a cell phone app to read the idPAD results and counsel drug users about behavior changes that will help prevent fatal overdoses.
The Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest honors outstanding scientific achievement in scientific and technical work which contributes to the public well-being and has thereby communicated the positive values of the chemical profession. The award is presented annually by the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society and has honored such publicly renowned chemists as F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario J. Molina (effect of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer), Carl Djerassi (birth-control drugs), Kary Mullis (polymerase chain reaction), Jennifer A. Doudna (genome editing) and Carolyn Bertozzi (bioorthogonal chemistry). The Esselen Award is given to honor the memory of G. J. Esselen, past chair of the Northeastern Section and founder of Esselen Research Corporation.
In recognition of her contributions, Dr. Lieberman will receive the Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest on Thursday, April 10, 2025, in a ceremony at the Harvard University Faculty Club, Cambridge, MA at 8pm. Dr. Lieberman’s award lecture, entitled “Got Fakes? Paper test cards for detection of falsified medicines." will follow the award presentation and is free and open to the public.
Further information concerning the award can be found at the Northeastern Section’s website, www.nesacs.org.
Originally published by at padproject.nd.edu on March 03, 2025.