Professor Anne Andrews has been selected to receive the 2026 American Chemical Society Analytical Chemistry Division Award in Electrochemistry in recognition of her accomplishments and service.
As a Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Bioengineering at UCLA, Andrews’ research advances understanding of biological systems, especially the brain, and has concentrated on electrochemical techniques for studying serotonin neurotransmission. Her research has contributed to understanding the mechanisms of action of cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and a serotonin neurotoxin, 2’NH2-MPTP, co-discovered with her doctoral advisor, the late Dr. Dennis Murphy (NIMH), using HPLC coupled with electrochemical (EC) detection. Her interdisciplinary team of chemists and neuroscientists pioneered in vivo neurochemical analyses combining microdialysis sampling with HPLC-EC in genetically engineered mouse models of psychiatric disease risk.
Andrews and her collaborators and research group developed an in vivo electrochemical method called rapid-pulse voltammetry. Here, machine-learning analysis of capacitive and faradaic currents has enabled simultaneous neurotransmitter monitoring at sub-second timescales. They developed flexible, open-source software that allows users to construct and explore any voltammetry waveform and to analyze the resulting data seamlessly. Andrews’ research further focuses on electronic field-effect transistor sensors combined with short single-stranded DNA aptamers for selective target recognition to measure neurotransmitters and hormones at high spatial, temporal, and chemical resolution in implantable and wearable formats.
Andrews serves on the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry Board of Directors and is an elected fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Andrews has received an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award, a California Neurotechnologies Research Award, and an IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry Award, among other accolades. Her innovations led to the inclusion of technology and measurement techniques for chemical signaling within the U.S. BRAIN Initiative. Andrews is a former President of the International Society for Serotonin Research.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
