Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Kevin Clark has been recognized by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry with its 2020 Postdoctoral Career Development Award.

The award is presented annually to five postdoctoral fellows in the field of mass spectrometry. Each fellow receives $5,000 for career development activities such as conference and workshop attendance, travel to other mass spectrometry laboratories, and purchase of books or software.

Clark’s postdoctoral work is with Jonathan Sweedler, James R. Eiszner Family Endowed Chair in Chemistry and the director of the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Using mass spectrometry, it is possible to assay dozens of modifications simultaneously and correlate them with changes we observe in animal behavior,” Clark said.

“Clark is correlating the RNA modification profiles of specific neuronal clusters and even individual neurons with behavior. His early data are fantastic,” Sweedler said.

“The award from ASMS is ideal for helping me establish an independent career in the field of RNA modifications,” Clark said. “I’m very excited to use this funding to attend a specialized conference on RNA editing, participate in an NIH-sponsored regional workshop on program funding, and visit the University of Cincinnati to work with Dr. Bala Addepalli and other experts in RNA biology and RNA modification mapping using mass spectrometry.”