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LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 8, 2005) -- University of Kentucky biochemistry professor Louis Barry Hersh today received the Albert D. and Elizabeth H. Kirwan Memorial Prize at the university’s 138th commencement.

The annual award, which includes a $5,000 prize, recognizes a full-time UK faculty member for outstanding contributions to original research or creative scholarship. It is named in honor of Albert D. Kirwan, president of UK from 1968 to 1970, and his wife, Elizabeth, and was established by their sons.

Hersh, who chairs the UK Department of Biochemistry and is director of the Kentucky Center for Structural Biology, was recognized for research that attracted $3 million from outside grant agencies in 2004 alone. His recent work focuses on decreasing the accumulation in the brain of the neurotoxin amyloid beta peptide, believed to be a causative agent of Alzheimer’s disease. He has identified two enzymes that degrade the amyloid beta peptide.

In the last four years, Hersh has produced 39 articles in scientific journals such as Life Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He was elected president in 2003 of the Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry, and serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals.