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University of Minnesota Professor and Center for Drug Design Professor and Director Robert Vince has been named to the Minnesota Science and Technology Hall of Fame. Dr. Vince is one of eight inductees who will be honored at the Annual Tekne Awards celebration on November 3, 2011.

The Minnesota Science and Technology (MST) Hall of Fame was created by the Minnesota High Tech Associate and Science Museum of Minnesota to honor individuals whose achievements in science and technology have made lasting contributions to Minnesota and the world. The hall is a permanent exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota and can be found online at www.msthalloffame.org.

Now holding 24 patents, Vince discovered and developed “carbovir”, a compound which was eventually licensed and sold by GSK as Ziagen®, an important treatment against HIV/AIDS. The drug is used world-wide, and the resulting royalties of over $575 million that have come to University of Minnesota to finance further scientific research in anti-viral, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer research. In addition, the 21st Century Endowment Fund, a matching scholarship endowment for graduate education throughout the UMN system was created, a portion of the new Lions Research Building/McGuire Translational Research Building was financed, and other colleges and departments are supported through this royalty stream.

Vince holds many honors over a lifetime of achievement including: 

• University of Minnesota Scholar of the Year (1979) Presented by Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.
• Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science (2000)
• Recognized on “Scholars Walk and Wall of Discovery” at Univ. of Minnesota (2006)
• Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame Award, American Chemical Society (2007)
• Inducted into “Academy for Excellence in Health Research”, Academic Health Center, University of Minnesota (2009).
• Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from State University of New York at University of Buffalo, (2010).
• Imbach Townsend Award from International Society of Nucleosides Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids Research (2010)
• Induction into Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame (2010)

In 2002, Dr. Vince became Director of the new Center for Drug Design, with a goal to make permanent the concept and intention of highly focused drug design and development. After setting up the Center, Vince continues his research along with other hand-selected scientists. The Center for Drug Design has become a focus of novel drug therapies and procedures, with a purpose to bring these treatments from bench to bedside.

Dr. Robert Vince’s eclectic and rigorous approach to science and contributions to human health continues to be an inspiration to those in his field.