Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Biography

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2017-2020

Interim Director of Notre Dame California

2014-2017

Interim Director of the Warren Family Research Center for Drug Discovery and Development, University of Notre Dame

2013-2016

Associate Vice President for Research, University of Notre Dame

2008-2013

Associate Dean, College of Science, University of Notre Dame

2004-present

Professor, University of Notre Dame

2001-2004

Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame

1995-2001

Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame

1992-1995

Merck Postdoctoral Associate, Stanford University

1992

Ph.D. in Chemistry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

1987

B.S. in Chemistry, State University of New York, Oswego

Selected Awards

2017

University of Notre Dame Faculty Award

2016

Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products and Bioactive Compounds

2010

5th Annual Negishi-Brown Lectures, Plenary Speaker

2009

Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

2007

Rev. Edmund P. Joyce Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

2007

Silveira Distinguished Lecturer, SUNY, Oswego

2002

Kaneb Teaching Award

2001

Eli Lilly Grantee Award

1998

NSF CAREER Award

Research Interests

Chemical and Biological Synthetic Technologies for Accessing Biologically Active Natural Products

Our group is focused on the development of chemical and biological synthetic technologies for the production of natural products and natural product analogues and the study of their therapeutic potential for cancer and rare disease indications. In our lab, chemical synthesis tools such as methodology development and total synthesis are complemented by biological synthesis techniques such as bacterial fermentation, genetic and chemical manipulation, and heterologous expression. The power of synthesis enables access to the complex structures that are the foundation for a medicinal chemistry program.

• Chemical Methodology Development and Total Synthesis
• Bacterial Fermentation and Chemical and Genetic Manipulation of Microorganisms
• Small Molecule Conformational Analysis and Analogue Synthesis
• Biological Assay Development and Screening

Current projects include the development of chemical and biological methods for oxidative processing of putative biosynthetic intermediates towards the anti-cancer natural product, zampanolide and the anti-fungal, cyclopropane-containing polyketide, ambruticin. For several years, our lab has been studying the polyketide natural products, GEX1A and pladienolide, for their potential in rare diseases such as Niemann-Pick Type C and certain rare cancers.

The Identification of New Leads for Rare and Ultra-rare Diseases

Our lab also contributes to several collaborative rare disease programs within the Warren Center for Drug Discovery seeking therapeutic leads for rare indications such as NGly1 deficiency, Cori disease, and Behcet's disease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Recent Publications

• Sellin, M.; Mack, R.; Rhodes, M. C.; Zhang, L.; Berg, S.; Joshi, K.; Liu, S. H.; Wei, W.; Breslin, S.; Larsen, P.; Taylor, R. E. and Zhang, J. W. "Molecular Mechanisms by which Splice Modulator GEX1A Inhibits Leukaemia Development and Progression" 2022 British Journal of Cancer. DOI: 10.1038/s41416-022-01796-5.
• Lu, S. X.; De Neef, E.; Thomas, J. D.; Sabio, E.; Rousseau, B.; Gigoux, M.; Knorr, D. A.; Greenbaum, B.; Elhanati, Y.; Hogg, S. J.; Chow, A.; Ghosh, A.; Xie, A.; Zamarin, D.; Cui, D.; Erickson, C.; Singer, M.; Cho, H. N.; Wang, E. R.; Lu, B.; Durham, B. H.; Shah, H.; Chowell, D.; Gabel, A. M.; Shen, Y. D.; Liu, J.; Jin, J.; Rhodes, M. C.; Taylor, R. E.; Molina, H.; Wolchok, J. D.; Merghoub, T.; Diaz, L. A.; Abdel-Wahab, O. and Bradley, R. K. "Pharmacologic Modulation of RNA Splicing Enhances Anti-Tumor Immunity" 2021 Cell, 184 (15), pp.4032. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.038.
• Sun, R. C.; Young, L.; Bruntz, R. C.; Markussen, K. H.; Zhou, Z. Q.; Conroy, L. R.; Hawkinson, T. R.; Clarke, H. A.; Stanback, A. E.; Macedo, J.; Emanuelle, S.; Brewer, M. K.; Rondon, A. L.; Mestas, A.; Sanders, W. C.; Mahalingan, K. K.; Tang, B. Y.; Chikwana, V. M.; Segvich, D. M.; Contreras, C. J.; Allenger, E. J.; Brainson, C. F.; Johnson, L. A.; Taylor, R. E.; Armstrong, D. D.; Shaffer, R.; Waechter, C. J.; Vander Kooi, C. W.; DePaoli-Roach, A. A.; Roach, P. J.; Hurley, T. D.; Drake, R. R. and Gentry, M. S. "Brain Glycogen Serves as a Critical Glucosamine Cache Required for Protein Glycosylation" 2021 Cell Metabolism, 33 (7), pp.1404. DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2021.05.003.
• Trentadue, K.; Chang, C. F.; Nalin, A. and Taylor, R. E. "Enantioselective Total Synthesis of the Putative Biosynthetic Intermediate Ambruticin J" 2021 Chemistry-a European Journal, 27 (43), pp.11126-11131. DOI: 10.1002/chem.202100975.
• Henry, J. L.; Wilson, M. R.; Mulligan, M. P.; Quinn, T. R.; Sackett, D. L. and Taylor, R. E. "Synthesis, Conformational Preferences, and Biological Activity of Conformational Analogues of the Microtubule-Stabilizing Agents, (-)-Zampanolide and (-)-Dactylolide" 2019 MedChemComm, 10 (5), pp.800-805. DOI: 10.1039/c9md00164f.
• Larsen, E. M.; Chang, C. F.; Sakata-Kato, T.; Arico, J. W.; Lombardo, V. M.; Wirth, D. F. and Taylor, R. E. "Conformation-Guided Analogue Design Identifies Potential Antimalarial Compounds through Inhibition of Mitochondrial Respiration" 2018 Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, 16 (30), pp.5403-5406. DOI: 10.1039/c8ob01257a.

Gallery

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