Dr. MICHAEL POLLASTRI
Director and Research Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Pollastri received his A.B degree in chemistry from The College of
the Holy Cross, his M.S. in organic chemistry from Duke University and
his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Brown University. In 1998, he joined
Pfizer Global Research and Development at the Groton, CT research site
where he focused on atherosclerosis medicinal chemistry and
high-throughput synthesis technologies. In 2003, Dr. Pollastri joined
Pfizer’s Research Technology Center (RTC) in Cambridge, MA, where he led
research groups focused on hit-to-lead medicinal chemistry of G-protein
coupled receptors, kinases, and phosphodiesterases. He then became Head
of Chemical Technology at the RTC, and in that role he and his team
developed novel synthetic tools and techniques for expediting drug
discovery. Dr. Pollastri joined Boston University to start up the
MCCSF-BU in 2007.
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Professor Porco received his Ph.D.
in Organic Chemistry with Stuart Schreiber at Harvard University
in 1992 and did postdoctoral studies in Chi Huey Wong's laboratory
at the Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Porco worked as an
associate for Avalon Ventures where he participated in the
founding of several biotechnology companies, including Pharmacopeia,
Aurora Biosciences, and Argonaut Technologies. He was the
first scientist at Argonaut Technologies and in 1997 was
promoted to Director, Parallel Medicinal Chemistry where
he and his colleagues developed a number of reagents and
methods for parallel chemical synthesis. Research activities
in the Porco group involve the development of new methodologies
for chemical synthesis and their application to synthesis
of complex natural products and natural product-like molecules.
Targets for synthesis include pharmacologically active compounds
where the preparation of structural variants will allow the
dissection of regulatory interactions with biomolecules.
Parallel synthesis using simple reaction blocks and workstations
is also used for efficient optimization of new chemical reactions
and key synthetic transformations.
Professor
Panek received his B.S. degree from the State University of New
York at Buffalo in 1979 and his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas
in 1984 under the direction of Professor Dale L. Boger. After postdoctoral study with Professor
Samuel Danishefsky at Yale University as an NIH Fellow, he assumed the position
of Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Boston University in 1986. His research
interests are primarily concerned with the area of organic synthesis. Members
of his group are engaged in the development of new reaction methodology concerned
with acyclic stereocontrol as well as the application of these methods to
the asymmetric synthesis of natural products and complex organic
molecules.
Professor
Schaus received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with Eric N.
Jacobsen at Harvard University in 1999 and did postdoctoral
studies in Andy Myers' laboratory at Harvard University
as an NIH fellow. His research group concentrates on the
synthesis of natural products, drawing mainly from catalytic
methodologies as a source of selective organic transformations. Active projects
in the group include the total synthesis of natural products
that target cell cycle regulation, cell proliferation, and
cell death. Recent developments in chemical and functional
genomics make it possible to address specific questions concerning
the biological response of cells to small molecule modulators.
In this regard, genomic transcription profiling of both model
organisms and mammalian cells using microarray technologies
will be employed to validate drug targets and cellular response
mechanisms.
Professor Snyder received his B.S. degree in 1973 from
Denison University, Granville, Ohio, and his S.M. (1975)
and Ph.D. (1979) degrees from the University
of Chicago, working with Professor Leon M. Stock. His post-doctoral studies
were done with Professor Koji Nakanishi at Columbia University, and he joined
the faculty at Boston University in 1983. His research interests include
chemistry of natural products, and exploration of new chemistry
in synthesis. The applications
of homo Diels-Alder cycloadditions, inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactions,
chiral anthracene templates in cycloadditions, and heterocyclic chemistry
are key areas of investigations.
Professor Gilmore is the Director of the Chemical Library Consortium, which
is aimed at identifying biological collaborators for use of the CMLD compound
libraries. Dr. Gilmore received his PhD in 1984 from the University of California
(Berkeley), under the direction of Dr. G. Steven Martin. From 1984-87, he was
a Jane Coffin Childs Post-doctoral Fellow with the late Dr. Howard M. Temin
at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). Since 1987, Dr. Gilmore has been
on the Faculty of the Biology Department at Boston University. Research in
his laboratory is generally focused on the role of Rel/NF-kB transcription
factors (
Professor Stephenson received his B.S. degree
from The University of Waterloo in 1998 and his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 under the direction of Professor Peter Wipf
followed by postdoctoral studies with Professor Erick Carreira at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He joined the
Department of Chemistry at Boston University in 2007 as an Assistant Professor and began a research program focused primarily upon the
development of new strategies and methodologies for the synthesis of natural products. Of particular interest are the discovery of new
asymmetric transformations and their application in the realm of complex molecule synthesis.
Professor Beeler received a B.S. in Biology from
Belmont University and a Ph.D. in May 2002 in Medicinal Chemistry from
the University of Mississippi under Prof. John M. Rimoldi. He joined
Boston University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate under
Prof. John A. Porco in May 2002 and the CMLD-BU in May 2003.
