Speakers Announced for 2021 BU-CMD Symposium

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

BU-CMD  18^th 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”

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

BU-CMD  17^th 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

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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)

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

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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 Hosts 2017 Symposium

By Lauren E Brown
in Uncategorized.

Thanks to all who attended the 16th Annual CMD Symposium on June 23! Attendees were treated to fantastic talks from Professors Dirk Trauner, Ben List, Frances Arnold and Robert Langer, followed by a poster session highlighting new research from our students and postdocs.

Special thanks to Center Administrator Lisa Holik for a great job organizing this event, our friends at BUnano for help with setup and Prof. Aaron Beeler for organizing the poster session.

Thanks also to our generous sponsors listed below, without whom this event would not be possible:

• AbbVie
• Biogen
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• BU Translational Research in Biomaterials Training Grant
• Celgene
• Chemglass
• Constellation
• Eisai Research Institute
• IKA
• Interchim Inc.
• Paraza Pharmaceuticals
• Pfizer, Inc.
• SanofiUS
• Strem Chemicals, Inc.
• Vertex
• Yamazen

Check back in the future for news on our next CMD Symposium.

Tagged: CMD symposium

CMD Paper in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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.

Tagged: flow chemistry, natural products, photochemistry

CMD Paper in Science Translational Medicine

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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.

Tagged: cancer, multiple myeloma, natural products

BU-CMD Welcomes Four New Faculty Members

By Lisa M Holik
in Uncategorized.

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.

Tagged: CMD news