Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) has announced that Leroy Hood will receive the seventh annual Pittcon Heritage Award. Jointly sponsored by the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and CHF, this award recognizes individuals whose entrepreneurial careers have shaped the instrumentation community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted the role of analytical chemistry in world economies. The award will be presented at Pittcon 2008 in New Orleans, which begins March 1.

"Award-winning researcher, gifted entrepreneur and brilliant innovator Leroy Hood pioneered the techniques that made the rapid pace of the Human Genome Project possible," said Thomas Tritton, president and CEO of CHF. "Without his contributions, the sequencing of the human genome could have taken years or even decades longer."

Hood will receive the Pittcon Heritage Award at the 59th annual Pittsburgh Conference. Pittcon is the largest and most inclusive conference and exposition on laboratory science and instrumentation in the world. The annual event brings together more than 30,000 conferees and exhibitors from more than 70 countries. Pittcon 2008 will include approximately 3,000 presentations in addition to short courses, invited symposia, workshops, and new product forums featuring instrumentation manufacturers from the life sciences, analytical chemistry, and other scientific fields. Proceeds from the conference are used to advance science education.