News & Events
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.
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.
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.
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:
Check back in the future for news on our next CMD Symposium.
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.
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.
Dr. Allen brings expertise in the areas of X-Ray crystallography and enzyme structure and function to the CMD.
Dr. Vajda brings expertise in the areas of computational methods and drug discovery to the CMD.
Dr. Vegas brings expertise in the areas of drug delivery and targeting to the CMD.
Dr. Whitty brings expertise in the areas of biological chemistry and protein-protein and protein-drug interactions to the CMD.