The Welch Foundation has awarded the 2026 Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research to Dr. Sheel Dodani, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Dallas, for her pioneering contributions to the development of engineered proteins as anion sensors in biology.
Sheel Dodani was born and raised in Plano, Texas. She earned her B.S. degree in Chemistry from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2007 where she carried out research in the laboratory of Professor John Sibert synthesizing redox-active macrocycles for metal sensing. Then, Sheel pursued her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley under the supervision of Professor Christopher Chang. Her graduate work focused on the synthesis and application of new small molecule fluorescent probes and related analytical imaging technologies to uncover new roles for transition metals in cellular signaling. After completing her Ph.D. in 2013, she joined the laboratory of Professor Frances Arnold at the California Institute of Technology as an NIH postdoctoral fellow. There she employed a multipronged approach, encompassing protein crystallography, enzymology, and directed evolution to understand the structure–function relationship of nitrating cytochrome P450s, resulting in the discovery of new enzymes and natural products. In August 2016, Sheel returned to The University of Texas at Dallas and joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Since starting, Sheel and her team have received grant support from the NIH, NSF, University of Texas System STARs program, UT Dallas, and Welch Foundation. Sheel was recognized in 2020 with the Sessler Early Career Researcher Prize, in 2024 with the Zasshikai Lectureship from the University of Tokyo, and in 2025 with the Eugene McDermott Distinguished Professorship.