Rich Taylor, associate vice president for research and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, presented a paper on his research, “Chemical and Biological Synthesis of Polyketide Natural Products,” at the 2014 Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products at its annual July meeting. During this year’s conference, Taylor was elected Vice-Chair of the 2015 and Chair of the 2016 conferences to be held at Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H. This annual international meeting provides a forum for experts to share unpublished research results and engage in scientific discussions.
Chairs of the Gordon Research Conferences are elected by the attending scientists at these outstanding meetings based on their reputation and leadership in the field and are entrusted by their colleagues to assemble these conferences in important fields of science. Professor Taylor is international recognized research program is focused on the investigation of the therapeutic potential of bacteria-derived natural products. He will develop the agenda for the 2016 conference which will be held July 24-29, 2016.
The first Natural Products Gordon Conference was held in 1951 organized by renowned organic chemists R. B. Woodward and Gilbert Stork. The conference has a rich tradition of promoting interactions between outstanding researchers with expertise in synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. Over the years the conferences have embraced related topics including natural product isolation and biosynthesis as well as the development biological assays and identification of their modes of action. In its 64th year, the 2015 conference will be entitled, “The Wide-Ranging Influence of Natural Products Research on Medicine and the Physical Sciences.”
The Gordon Research Conferences (GRC), a non-profit organization, brings together academic and industry researchers in the areas of biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. In 2015, GRC will organize 177 research conferences and 11 research seminars both nationally and internationally.
Originally published by at science.nd.edu on October 13, 2014.