Bioorganic Chemistry of Carcinogenesis, Chemotherapy, and Chemoprevention

News

2009, November: The Research Program has moved to the ETH Zurich

The Sturla laboratory is moving to the ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Information regarding the new program will soon be available at http://www.ethz.ch/index_EN . Positions will be available for graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and research scientists. For more information regarding any of these positions, send email to shana.sturla (at) agrl.ethz.ch

2009, September: Congratulations Dr. Xiaodan Liu!

Kathy successfully defended her PhD thesis "Natural Products and their Derivatives in Cancer Prevention and Therapy: Inositol Phosphates and Illudin S." Kathy will be moving to Scripps Florida for her postdoc.

2009, August: National American Chemical Society Meeting in DC

Congratulations to Katie for recieving a Division of Chemical Toxicology travel grant AND poster award! Pete, Rahul, Hailey, and Katie gave excellent presentations regarding Sturla Lab research at the ACS meeting. DC Photos are posted.

2009, July: Glutathione Reductase is Inhibited by Acylfulvenes

In a study published in Molecular Biosystems, Kathy sheds light on how the structures of acylfulvenes and illudins influence their interactions with the critical cellular redox regulating enzyme glutathione reductase:

2009, March: Study of Inositol Phosphate in Foods and Cells appears in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry

Inositol phosphates play a role in nutrition, cellular processes, and disease. Kathy's study, co-authored by Pete Vilalta, is a step taken in studies aimed at understanding how dietary inositols may reduce the risk of cancer. Simultaneous determination of inositol and inositol phosphates in complex biological matrices: quantitative ion-exchange chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry Rapid Comm. Mass Spec. 23, 2009.

2009, February: Jolanna's Synthesis of Deoxytetrahydrouridine in J. Org. Chem.

Jolanna's paper describes a reliable way to prepare a simple nucleoside analog that may be useful for probing interactions of nucleic acids with enzymes they bind. This work is part of a collaboration with Professor Hiroshi Matsuo concerning the structure and mechanism of the DNA deaminase domain of the HIV restriction factor APOBEC3G.

2009, January: Congratulations Hailey and Katie on the Written Prelim!

Second-year students Hailey Gahlon and Kathryn Pietsch, have passed the Written Preliminary Exam in the Medicinal Chemistry Ph.D. program.

2008, December: Congratulations Heidi on the Written Prelim!

Heidi Dahlmann passes her written preliminary exam, titled "Phenol-Purine Coupling Reaction Development and Adduct-Specific Nucleotide-Probe Synthesis"

2008, September: Welcome Dr. Marina Tanasova

Dr. Marina Tanasova joins the lab after completing graduate studies in the laboratory of Professor Babak Borhan at Michigan State University. Marina's current focus is on the synthesis and biochemical evaluation of chemically stabilized variants of 3-deoxyadenosine DNA adducts. Welcome, Marina!