The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will present Benjamin Cravatt, the Gilula Chair in Biology and a Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, with the 2026 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences. Established in 1978, the award honors innovative research that benefits humanity and advances understanding of the natural sciences.
The prize includes a medal and $15,000 and is sponsored by the Merck Company Foundation. Past recipients from Scripps Research include CEO, President and L.S. “Sam” Skaggs Presidential Chair Pete Schultz, as well as Nobel laureate K. Barry Sharpless, the W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry. This year’s award recognizes Cravatt’s pioneering work on protein function and dysregulation in disease, which has opened new avenues for drug discovery.
Cravatt is well known for developing activity-based protein profiling (ABPP), an approach that allows researchers to measure protein activity directly in living cells. Before ABPP, many proteins could be identified but not functionally tracked in their native biological contexts. Cravatt changed that paradigm by enabling scientists to map which proteins are active, when they’re active, and how their activity shifts in disease.
Cravatt’s research also revealed how protein activity is dynamically regulated across development, metabolism and immune responses, and how it becomes disrupted during cancer progression. Furthermore, he developed tools that can target specific protein families, including those long considered “undruggable.” These tools have laid the groundwork for new therapeutic strategies now in clinical trials for a range of conditions—from different forms of cancer to neurological disorders—underscoring the translational impact of Cravatt’s work.
Beyond his contributions at the bench, Cravatt is widely recognized as a leader in mentorship and entrepreneurial vision. His commitment to training the next generation of scientists, coupled with his work on numerous biotechnology ventures, has extended the reach of his ideas well beyond Scripps Research.
Cravatt’s previous distinctions include election to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, the AACR Award for Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research, the ASBMB Merck Award, the Bristol Myers Squibb Award for Enzyme Chemistry, the Chi-Huey Wong Chemical Biology Award, the Cope Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Prize in Biological Chemistry, the Heinrich Wieland Prize, the Jeremy Knowles Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the R35 Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute, the Searle Scholar Award, the Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, the William H. Nichols Medal from the New York Local Section of the American Chemical Society, and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.
Cravatt will formally receive the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences during the 163rd NAS Annual Meeting in April 2026.