Denise Okafor named one of Chemical & Engineering News’ Talented 12
Denise Okafor, Huck Early Career Chair in biophysics and assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of chemistry in the Penn State Eberly College of Science, has been selected as one of the 2025 Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) Talented 12.
The Talented 12 program recognizes early-career researchers in the chemical sciences. C&EN notes that “being recognized can serve as a launching pad for the Talented 12 to gain recognition for their ideas, find funding and collaborators, and become the leaders of the future.”
“I am thrilled to see all the accolades and recognition Denise continues to earn,” said Santhosh Girirajan, department head and T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Eberly College of Science. “We are incredibly proud of her accomplishments and lucky to have her as a colleague in our department.”
Okafor’s research is focused on the regulation of protein functionality. Her lab uses computational and experimental methods to study the structural mechanisms of protein signaling and regulation, such as how conformational dynamics of proteins are altered in different functional states. Okafor said she aims to apply this knowledge by developing new methods to modulate protein function.
“Being selected for the C&EN Talented 12 is a tremendous honor — especially because it’s a recognition that has gone, over the years, to scientists I’ve long admired and looked up to,” said Okafor. “To be included among them is both humbling and deeply meaningful.”
The Okafor lab specializes in nuclear receptors, proteins that bind to DNA and impact gene expression. The central role of nuclear receptors in a range of biological processes including metabolism, reproduction and development makes them ideal therapeutic targets for drug development.
Okafor’s previous honors and awards include the Cottrell Scholar Award in 2024, the Marion Milligan Mason Award in 2023, the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award in 2022, and a Faculty Early Career Development award from the U.S. National Science Foundation in 2021.
Okafor received her bachelor of science in biomedical chemistry from Oral Roberts University, a master of science in chemistry and a doctorate in biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She conducted postdoctoral research in the Ortlund lab at Emory University, where she held a Fellowship in Research and Science Teaching postdoctoral fellowship.