Title: Merging of Chemistry and Biology: In Search of Molecules with Translational Function
K.D. Janda
Professor and Ely R. Callaway Chair in Chemistry
Director of the Worm Institute of Research and Medicine (WIRM)
Departments of Chemistry and Immunology
The Scripps Research Institute
La Jolla California 92037 USA
Abstract:
Nature contains information to instruct scientists about what is possible. This can serve as an inspiration to
probe the frontiers of biology and chemistry. At the same time, chemistry can contribute to our understanding
of biology and also to our ability to manipulate complex systems for human health and welfare. The
combination of the tools and principles of chemistry, together with the tools of modern biology, allows us to
create complex synthetic and natural molecules, comprising processes with novel biological, chemical and
physical properties. This lecture will illustrate the opportunities that lie at this interface of biological chemistry
by describing a series of examples that we are actively working on in our laboratory. Including developing
vaccines for treating heroin abuse, cell-to-cell communication within bacteria and how some of these quorumsensing molecules display a symbiotic relationship to cancer immunosurveillance as it relates to TRAIL’s
apoptotic pathway.