By Lisa M Holik
Speakers Announced – 2025 BU-CMD Symposium “Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications”
BU-CMD 20th Symposium
“Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications”
Friday, June 20, 2025
We are pleased to welcome the following speakers to the 2025 BU-CMD Symposium:
-
Professor Kendall Houk, University of California, Los Angeles
-
Professor Catherine L. Drennan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-
Professor Nathanael S. Gray, Stanford Medicine
-
Professor André K. Isaacs, College of the Holy Cross
Speakers Announced for 2021 BU-CMD Symposium
BU-CMD 18th Symposium
“Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications”
Friday, June 11, 2021
We are pleased to welcome the following speakers to the 2021 BU-CMD symposium:
-
Professor Dennis C. Liotta, Emory Institute for Drug Development/ Emory University
-
Professor Suzanne Walker, Harvard Medical School
-
Professor Vern L. Schramm, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
-
Professor James Wells, University of California, San Francisco
Speakers Announced – 2019 BU-CMD Symposium “Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications”
BU-CMD 17th Annual Symposium
“Molecular Discovery: From Chemical Synthesis to Biological Applications”
Friday, June 7, 2019
We are pleased to welcome the following speakers to the 2019 BU-CMD symposium:
-
Professor David R. Liu, The Broad Institute and Harvard University
-
Professor Jin-Quan Yu, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla
-
Professor Kim Orth, UT Southwestern Medical Center
-
Professor Kevan Shokat, University of California, San Francisco
BU-CMD Members to Speak and Present Posters at the 256th Annual ACS Conference
Edwin Alfonzo (Beeler Lab)
ORGN 167: Photoredox generated carbonyl ylides: Scope, mechanism, and application
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Sunday, August, 19, 2018 from 5:30 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Exhibit Hall B2/C - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Edith Nagy (BU-CMD)
1. SESSION: Sci-mix
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Poster
PAPER TITLE: “Large scale synthesis of secalonic acids A and D for translational studies”
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Monday, August 20, 2018 from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Exhibit Hall B2/C - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Wenqing Xu (BU-CMD)
ORGN 335: C-C bond-forming macrocyclization using modular sulfonylhydrazone substrates
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Tuesday, Aug 21 3:00 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Room 255 - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Aaron Beeler (Beeler Lab)
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral
COMSCI 8: High-Throughput Chemistry Platform (HTCP) for reaction screening and expanding chemical reaction space
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Tuesday, Aug 21 3:20 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Room 257B - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Nandini Vallavoju (BU-CMD)
PAPER TITLE: Synthesis of rocaglate photaffinity probes for target identification studies
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Tuesday, August 21, 2018, 5:30 pm
ROOM & LOCATION: Exhibit Hall B2/C - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Megan Egbert (Whitty/Vajda Labs)
COMP 438: Computational study of proteins that bind beyond rule-of-five ligands
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Tuesday, August, 21, 2018 from 6:00 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Exhibit Hall B1 - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Xiaowei Wu (Porco Lab)
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Wednesday, August, 22, 2018 from 9:40 AM - 10:00 AM
ROOM & LOCATION: Room 254A - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Aaron Beeler (Beeler Lab)
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral
ANYL 457: The potential for flow chemistry in space
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Wednesday, August, 22, 2018 from 2:20 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Room 104C - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Thomas Purgett (Porco Lab)
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Oral
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Wednesday, August, 22, 2018 from 3:20 PM - 3:40 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Room 256 - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Gabrielle Fleming (Beeler Lab)
ORGN 633: Using flow chemistry to enable the regio- and enantioselective intermolecular Buchner ring expansion
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Wednesday, August, 22, 2018 from 7:00 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Galleria - Westin Boston Waterfront
Edith Nagy (BU-CMD)
DIVISION: Division of Organic Chemistry
SESSION: Total synthesis of complex molecules
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Poster
DAY & TIME OF PRESENTATION: Wednesday, August, 22, 2018, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
ROOM & LOCATION: Galleria - Westin Boston Waterfront
Recent CMD Faculty Happenings
Professor John Porco selected as the new Samour Family Professor of Chemistry
College of Arts and Science Dean Ann Cudd announces that Professor John Porco has been selected to be the Samour Family Professor for Chemistry for the 2018-2023 term.
Professor Aaron Beeler has been awarded a $957K grant from DARPA
Professor Aaron Beeler was recently awarded a $975,000 grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) titled “High-Throughput Chemistry Platform (HTCP) for Reaction Screening.”
Professor Arturo Vegas has been awarded a Two-Year grant from Combined Therapeutics
Professor Arturo Vegas was recently awarded a $255,000 non-traditional corporate funding grant from Combined Therapeutics.
BU-CMD Welcomes a New Member
CMD wishes to Welcome a new member to the team:
Edith Nagy – postdoc
Edith began her chemistry training at Florida Atlantic University where she received her Bachelor’s degree. She then continued her PhD studies at the same institution (2012) working with Dr. Salvatore D. Lepore as a NSF graduate research fellow. As part of her PhD work, she developed new methods for the synthesis of isoxazolines and pyrazolines and performed detailed studies on the mechanisms of these transformations. During the summers of 2014 and 2015, Edith went for an internship to Eli Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis where she worked on a diabetes related project in the R&D division. She joined BU-CMD as a postdoctoral fellow in November 2017.
BU-CMD Welcomes New Faculty Member
Dr. Andrew Emili, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology and Biochemistry
Dr. Emili has recently come to BU by way of the University of Toronto. Dr. Emili brings expertise in the areas of systems biology and proteomics.
BU Today has featured Dr. Emili in his new roles at the School of Medicine biochemistry department and the College of Arts & Sciences biology department.
CMD Paper in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
Congratulations to Han Yueh, Qiwen Gao, and Professors John Porco and Aaron Beeler on their recent paper in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry entitled “A photochemical flow reactor for large scale syntheses of aglain and rocaglate natural product analogues”
Abstract: Herein, we report the development of continuous flow photoreactors for large scale ESIPT-mediated [3 +2]-photocycloaddition of 2-(p-methoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxyflavone and cinnamate-derived dipolarophiles. These reactors can be efficiently numbered up to increase throughput two orders of magnitude greater than the corresponding batch reactions.
CMD Paper in Science Translational Medicine
Congratulations to William Devine, Lauren Brown, and Professor John Porco on their recent paper in Science Translational Medicine entitled “Inhibiting the oncogenic translation program is an effective therapeutic strategy in multiple myeloma.”
Abstract: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a frequently incurable hematological cancer in which overactivity of MYC plays a central role, notably through up-regulation of ribosome biogenesis and translation. To better understand the oncogenic program driven by MYC and investigate its potential as a therapeutic target, we screened a chemically diverse small-molecule library for anti-MM activity. The most potent hits identified were rocaglate scaffold inhibitors of translation initiation. Expression profiling of MM cells revealed reversion of the oncogenic MYC-driven transcriptional program by CMLD010509, the most promising rocaglate. Proteome-wide reversion correlated with selective depletion of short-lived proteins that are key to MM growth and survival, most notably MYC, MDM2, CCND1, MAF, and MCL-1. The efficacy of CMLD010509 in mouse models of MM confirmed the therapeutic relevance of these findings in vivo and supports the feasibility of targeting the oncogenic MYC-driven translation program in MM with rocaglates.
BU-CMD Welcomes Four New Faculty Members
Dr. Karen Allen, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Allen brings expertise in the areas of X-Ray crystallography and enzyme structure and function to the CMD.
Dr. Sandor Vajda, Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry
Dr. Vajda brings expertise in the areas of computational methods and drug discovery to the CMD.
Dr. Arturo Vegas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Vegas brings expertise in the areas of drug delivery and targeting to the CMD.
Dr. Adrian Whitty, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Whitty brings expertise in the areas of biological chemistry and protein-protein and protein-drug interactions to the CMD.