A Dissertation That's Already Shaping the Field
Meg Shieh, who will receive her doctoral degree in chemistry this May, has been awarded the prestigious Joukowsky Outstanding Dissertation Award in the physical sciences for her dissertation, Chemical Tool Development for Elucidating the Mechanistic Roles of Sulfane Sulfur in Redox Signaling.
Shieh’s research addresses a central challenge in chemical biology: how to study reactive sulfur species, highly important but difficult-to-measure molecules involved in cellular signaling, physiology, and disease. Her dissertation develops new chemical tools that allow researchers to detect and manipulate sulfane sulfur species in biological systems.
Sarah Delaney, Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry and chair of the department of Chemistry, described Shieh as “an exceptional scientist whose dissertation research has already made a meaningful impact on the field of chemical biology.” Delaney noted that Shieh’s dissertation is “both conceptually innovative and field-shaping,” adding that it “exemplifies the excellence this award seeks to recognize.”
Three Major Scientific Advances
Under the mentorship of Ming Xian, Jesse H. Metcalf Professor of Chemistry, Shieh focused on developing novel chemical tools for reactive sulfane sulfur species. Her dissertation includes three major advances: establishing the fluorescent probe SSP4 as a useful fluorescent sensor for reactive sulfane sulfur species detection, discovering 2H-thiopyran-2-thione sulfine (TTS) as a compound that boosts the conversion of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) to hydrogen persulfide (H₂S₂), and developing sterically-hindered phosphine reagents as a practical method for identifying protein S-persulfidation. Xian noted that these works are “highly influential,” with publications in leading journals in the field.
One of Shieh’s early dissertation projects centered on SSP4, a fluorescent probe used to detect sulfane sulfur. After recognizing that SSP4 had not been fully analyzed across biologically relevant systems, Shieh designed a series of studies to carefully evaluate the sensor and provide researchers with a practical guide for its use. The resulting first-author paper, published in Redox Biology, was praised by one reviewer with the comment: “Ideally, all sensor papers should be this thorough and detailed.”
Shieh’s work also helped establish a new approach for generating hydrogen persulfide, a long-standing challenge in the field. Through research on heterocyclic sulfine compounds, she and collaborators identified TTS as a compound capable of converting hydrogen sulfide donors into hydrogen persulfide donors. Takaaki Akaike, International Distinguished Professor at Tohoku University and third reader of Shieh’s dissertation, described this work as “a significant conceptual advance,” noting that it gives researchers “a chemical strategy to control sulfane sulfur formation in biological systems.”
Akaike emphasized the importance of Shieh’s broader contribution to the field. Drawing on four decades of experience in redox research, he wrote that Shieh’s dissertation represents “field-defining contributions to chemical tool development” and called it “a model of what an outstanding doctoral thesis in the physical sciences should be.”
An Exceptional Record of Scholarship
Shieh’s dissertation is entirely composed of first-author and co-first-author publications, all of which have already been published. She has first-authored and co-authored 23 publications during her time at Brown and 28 publications total across her career, with an additional manuscript currently in preparation and two under review. She also holds a patent stemming from her dissertation research.
Her scholarly reach has extended well beyond Brown. Shieh has presented her work at 18 conferences, colloquia, and seminars, including 13 international presentations, and was invited to speak at eight of those events. She also conducted research abroad at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, in Akaike’s laboratory.
Honors and Awards
Shieh has earned an impressive array of distinctions throughout her academic career. Among the most notable is the NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award. She was also selected as a Young Scientist for the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting and named a CAS Future Leader by the American Chemical Society, a distinction granted to only 35 individuals globally. Additional honors from the American Chemical Society include the DBC Young Investigator Award, the ACS Future Pharma Innovator and the WCC/Pfizer Emergent Leader Award. In 2024, she received the Elaine Chase Award for Leadership and Service from the Brown University department of Chemistry.
Leadership, Mentorship, and Community
In addition to her research, Shieh has been deeply engaged in mentorship and leadership. She has mentored over a dozen trainees across the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. As Lead Director of the Brown Chemistry Graduate Student Leadership Committee, she worked with a team of graduate students to develop initiatives focused on community building and student wellness.
Xian described her as “a natural leader,” citing her work organizing journal clubs, invited speakers, networking opportunities, and open discussions on mental health for graduate students and faculty.
Shieh has also been committed to making science accessible beyond the academy, presenting her research to the public at Brown's Research Matters event in 2023 and serving as the Master of Ceremonies the following year.
What Comes Next
Starting in July 2026, Shieh will serve as an NIH IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow in Bethesda, Maryland, after accepting a National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Training Award.
Reflecting on the recognition, Shieh said, "Being selected for this award is incredibly meaningful to me, especially as I reflect on the path that was shaped by challenges even before my time at Brown began and built the resilience needed for this work. I see this Joukowsky Award as a reflection not just of my dissertation research, but of everyone who shaped and supported me throughout this journey. It also reinforces my motivation to pursue interdisciplinary research, make intentional scientific pivots, and build collaborative networks that broaden access to scientific tools and advance approaches for disease diagnosis and treatment worldwide."
Doctoral candidates and graduates, Gray Barber Babbs, Sarah Ferris Christensen, Meg Shieh, and Semilore Sobandewere selected for the Graduate School's Joukowsky Family Foundation Outstanding Dissertation Award. Prizes are awarded at the Doctoral Ceremony on May 24, 2026.