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Prof. Ralph Hirshmann, University of Pennsylvania
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Dr. Hirschmann is the
Emeritus Rao Makineni Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.
He received his B.A. from Oberlin College and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
Dr. Hirschmann is known for synthesis of molecules with specific biological and medicinal
functions, producing breakthroughs such as a new class of anti-inflammatory steroids
and a new approach to the treatment of insulin-requiring diabetics. He came to the
University of Pennsylvania as a Research Professor in 1987 from the Senior Vice
Presidency/Basic Research of Merck & Co. Inc., where he had spent the first 34 years
of his career. His area at Merck discovered and developed Vasotek, Lisinopril, Primaxin,
Ivomec, Mevacor, and Proscar, and his research team achieved the first total synthesis of an
enzyme in solution.
In collaboration with Professor Amos Smith at Penn, Dr. Hirschmann has pioneered the field
of non-peptide peptidomimetics, using sugars as replacements of the peptide backbone and in
developing the novel pyrrolinone system as an alternative to the peptide backbone.
Professor Hirschmann is one of the most honored and respected scientists
in his field. Among many honors, he has received the American Chemical
Society's Arthur C. Cope Award, and was elected a member of the National
Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. He received the National Academy of Sciences Award
for the Industrial Application of Science in 1999 and the National Medal of
Science in 2000 from President Clinton. He has received many other honors,
including honorary degrees from Oberlin College, the Medical University
of South Carolina, and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. |
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Prof. Amos Smith, University of Pennsylvania
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Dr. Smith is the
Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania
and Member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and the Laboratory for Research
on the Structure of Matter (LRSM). He received his B.S. and M.S.
degrees from Bucknell University and Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University.
He is widely recognized as one of the world's leading synthetic organic chemists and
has broad knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry gained through consulting and training of
many industry scientists. He joined the faculty at Penn in 1973 after a year as a Research
Associate at Rockefeller University. From 1988 to 1996 he served as Chairman of the
Department. In addition, he is a Visiting Director at the Kitasato Institute
(Tokyo, Japan).
Dr. Smith's research interests encompass three diverse areas: natural product synthesis,
bioorganic chemistry and materials science. To date more than 75 architecturally complex natural
products have been prepared in his Laboratory. In addition, Smith, in collaboration
with Ralph Hirschmann, has executed the design and synthesis of non-peptide peptidomimetics of
protease enzymes via the design and development of the polypyrrolinone scaffold to mimic
ß-turns, ß-strands/sheets, and helices, and, also with Stephen Benkovic (Penn State),
haptens for the production of catalytic antibodies capable of peptide bond formation.
Dr. Smith has been a Visiting Professor at both Columbia and Cambridge Universities. He has
also served on the NIH Medicinal Chemistry A Study Section as Member and as Chair and as Chair
of the Executive Committee of the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society.
Currently, he is a Member of the Board of Directors, Organic Reactions. In 1998 he became
the first Editor-in-Chief of the new ACS journal, Organic Letters. He is co-author of
over 400 publications and has delivered over 520 invited lectures. His honors and awards
include the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1985), the Kitasato Institute
Medal (1990), the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1991), the ACS Ernest Guenther Award (1993),
the University of Oregon Creativity Award (1997), the ACS Award for Creativity in Organic
Chemistry (1997), Honorary Membership in the Pharmaceutical Society of
Japan (1999), and Honorary Member, Kitasato Institute (2001). |
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Prof. Jeffery Kelly, Scripps Institute
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Dr. Kelly is the Lita Annenberg
Hazen Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute and serves as the Vice
President of Academic Affairs. Dr. Kelly is a bioorganic and biophysical chemist who
utilizes small molecules designed and synthesized in his laboratory to compensate for
genetic defects in proteins that typically result in pathology. He came to the Scripps
Research Institute in 1997 after 7 years in the chemistry department at Texas A&M
University where he rose through the ranks, prior to that he spent 3 years at The Rockefeller
University as a postdoctoral fellow with the late E. Thomas Kaiser.
Dr. Kelly is known for his work in beta-sheet peptidomimetics, protein folding and
self-assembly, and for his pioneering work in understanding the biochemical mechanisms of human
amyloid diseases and for developing small molecule therapeutics for intervention. His laboratory
has utilized genetic and molecular biology approaches, as well as biophysical and chemical
approaches to both understand and develop therapeutic strategies for amyloid and lysosomal storage
diseases. Dr. Kelly has co-authored over 100 papers and his scholarly contributions have been
recognized by the American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2001), the State
University of New York at Fredonia Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award (2000), The Protein
Society-Dupont Young Investigator Award (1999), The Biophysical Society National Lecturer
(Award, 1999), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1994), and the Searle Scholar Award (1991).
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Prof. James R. Burke, M.D., Ph. D., Duke University School of Medicine
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Professor Burke is an Associate
Professor of Medicine in the Neurology Division of the Duke University School of Medicine.
He received his medical degree from the State University of New York in 1985 and earned
his Ph. D. at the Oak Ridge National Lab, University of Tennessee in 1981. His
research interests include dementia, Alzheimer's disease, memory disorders and inherited
neurodegenerative diseses such as Huntington's disease.
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Prof. Warren J. Strittmatter, M.D., Duke University School of Medicine
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Professor Strittmatter is
Medicine in the Neurology Dvision of the Duke University School of Medicine where he
currently serves as Division Chief. He received his medical degree from Duke University in 1973
and continued his training at the Duke University Medical Center from 1974 to 1977. He worked at
the NIH from 1977 to 1979 before returning to Duke. His current research interests include the
role of ApoE in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and the mechanisms of polyglutamine-
mediated aggregation and cell death.
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Prof. Thomas G. Forsthuber, M.D., Ph. D., The University of Texas at San Antonio
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Dr. Forsthuber,
Professor of Immunology and Adjunct Professor of Pathology at the University of
Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, joined the UTSA faculty in 2005 from Case Western Reserve
University, where he was an Associate Professor of Pathology. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University
of Tübingen, Germany, was a Pathology resident at University Hospitals in Cleveland from
1994-1998, and joined the faculty of the Institute of Pathology in 1997. Forsthuber has
received numerous honors, including the American Society for Investigative Pathology Merit
Award in 1995, and the Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar Junior Faculty Award of the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society in 1997. He is Deputy Editor for the journal Cellular Immunology,
and serves as a reviewer for a number of scientific journals and funding agencies including
the NIH, VA, and National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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