The National Science Foundation (NSF) and its German counterpart, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), have awarded a multidisciplinary collaborative research grant to the University of Notre Dame and German research partners. With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program of the NSF is supporting the research of Richard Taylor, professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry and associate dean for research in the College of Science.
This project also provided a collaborative award funded by the DFG for Markus Kalesse, Leibniz University of Hannover and Florenz Sasse, Helmholtz Center for Infectious Disease (Braunschweig). Their collaborative program involves the development of synthetic methods for identification of new biologically active chemical entities inspired by the evolution of a complex natural product with potent antitumor activity. Putative biosynthetic intermediates, such as the targets of the current proposal, are a valuable new source of chemical diversity with the potential for discovery of novel biological targets and potentially new modes of action. Moreover, complementary biological studies of the prepared derivatives will probe the evolutionary role of specific biosynthetic processes and thus provide new information of fundamental significance.