In Brief
Eschenmoser Wins Oparin Medal
The Oparin Medal, the highest recognition of the International
Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, was given to
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Professor Albert Eschenmoser
at the 13th International Conference On The Origin Of Life,
which was held in early July in Oaxaca, Mexico. This award
is named after Russian scientist Alexander Ivanovitch Oparin—considered
to be the father of modern investigations in the field because
he suggested in 1924 that the earliest living organisms may
have been generated from chemical precursors. The Oparin Medal
is given every six years to the scientist deemed to have "had
the best sustained scientific research program in the origin
of life field," according to the conference web site.
Eschenmoser directs, together with Assistant Professor Ram
Krishnamurthy, a research group at the Skaggs Institute for
Chemical Biology that has contributed to the field through
investigations into the chemical origins of nucleic acid structure,
particularly through work on the threofuranosyl oligonucleotides
(TNAs). TNA nucleotides are structurally similar to DNA and
RNA nucleotides except that they contain structurally simpler
4-carbon based sugars, rather than the 5-carbon sugars ribose
or deoxyribose.
The important property of TNA is that it has the capability
of Watson-Crick base pairing comparable in strength to DNA
and RNA. Furthermore, TNA is able to communicate by such base
pairing with the natural nucleic acids and, therefore, may
be a possible intermediary between RNA and earlier, simpler
forms of informational molecules. Finding the simplest possible
informational oligomer systems that could have formed under
natural conditions is one of the goals of Eschenmoser's research
group.
At the conference, Eschenmoser delivered a plenary lecture,
entitled "The TNA-Family of Nucleic Acid Systems: Properties
and Prospects."
Rebek Wins Chemical Pioneer Award
Julius Rebek, Jr., director of the Skaggs Institute for
Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI),
has won an American Institute of Chemists (AIC) Chemical Pioneer
Award, which recognizes "extraordinary achievement in the
chemistry or chemical engineering fields." According to the
AIC, "Rebek's lifelong work has led to major innovations in
non-covalent molecular forces and pre-biotic mimetics—some
of the concepts he has pioneered are now regarded as starting
points in the field."
Rebek (B.S., University of Kansas; Ph.D., Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT)) has been at TSRI since 1996.
As an assistant professor at the University of California,
Los Angeles from 1970 to 1976, he developed the "three-phase
test" for reactive intermediates. At the University of Pittsburgh,
where he rose to the rank of professor, he developed cleft-like
structures for studies in molecular recognition. In 1989,
he returned to MIT as Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry
and devised synthetic, self-replicating molecules. The recipient
of many awards and honors, Rebek continues to work in combinatorial
chemistry and self-assembling systems at TSRI.
Wilson Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Ian Wilson, professor in TSRI's Department of Molecular Biology
and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, has
been elected to membership of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences.
"The Academy is pleased to welcome these outstanding and
influential individuals to the nation's most illustrious learned
society," says Academy President Patricia Meyer Spacks of
the 2002 inductees. "Election to the American Academy is the
result of a highly competitive process that recognizes those
who have made preeminent contributions to all scholarly fields
and professions."
An internationally recognized scientist known principally
for his work in the field of x-ray crystallography, Wilson
(B.Sc., University of Edinburgh; D.Phil., Oxford University)
joined TSRI's faculty in 1982, after completing a postdoctoral
fellowship and teaching assignments at Harvard University.
Wilson's research has led to significant advances in the scientific
understanding of molecular recognition in the immune system
and in signal transduction by cytokine hormone receptors.
Through his efforts, breakthroughs have been achieved in several
areas of structural biology, immunology, chemistry, biology,
and biochemistry, particularly in understanding the chemistry
of antibody-antigen recognition, the mechanism of catalytic
antibodies, cellular-immune recognition by T cell receptor-MHC
interaction, the mechanism of growth hormone-cytokine receptor
signaling, and the identification and mechanisms of novel
small molecule mimetics of natural hormones.
TSRI Office of Graduate Studies Announces Six Merit Fellowships
The Office of Graduate Studies has announced the winners of
merit-based fellowships for the 2002-2003 academic year.
The Gilula Fellowship, which is primarily supported by contributions
from TSRI's faculty and administration, goes to:
• Nadim Jessani, Macromolecular and Cellular Structure
and Chemistry (MCSC) Program;
• Songpon Deechongkit, Chemistry Program.
The Jabinson Fellowship, supported by the Louis R. Jabinson
Investigatorship Fund created by trusts left to TSRI upon
the death of Marguerite Jabinson, goes to:
• Fraser Hof, Chemistry;
• Haitian Liu, MCSC.
The Daniel Koshland Fellowship, supported by a gift from
Daniel Koshland, goes to:
• Scott Harrison, Chemistry
The Fletcher Jones Fellowship, supported by a 1993 grant
from The Fletcher Jones Foundation to endow a graduate fellowship
goes to:
• Olgun Guvench, MCSC.
Six TSRI Graduate Students Win Government Fellowships
The following TSRI graduate students have recently been
awarded government fellowships:
• Diana Franck (MCSC), Stephanie Gupton (MCSC), and
Luke Leman (Chemistry) will receive three-year National Science
Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships;
• Graduate student Julie Tubbs (MCSC) will receive a
NIH/NIGMS fellowship;
• Jose Luis Vela (MCSC) will receive a NIH/Minority
Predoctoral Fellowship;
• John Trzupek (Chemistry) will receive National Defense
and Science Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
Hughes Wins ACS Fellowship
Graduate Student Robert Hughes of the Nicolaou lab has been
awarded an American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Medicinal
Chemistry 2001-02 Predoctoral Fellowship Award. The award,
one of only five given annually to a third- or fourth-year
graduate student, is sponsored by Abbott. Hughes is researching
the synthetic chemistry of the gyclopeptide antibiotics and
the development of combinatorial techniques for the rapid
recovery of lead compounds. He will receive the award next
month at the ACS national meeting in Boston.
Enter News&Views Photo Contest
News&Views invites submissions to its second Summer Photo
Contest. Submit photos of TSRI people, places, or events (picnic
photos encouraged), with a brief description, to Kevin Fung,
e-mail kevin@scripps.edu or mail drop TPC-20. The deadline
is Monday, August 5. Winners will receive Padres tickets or
tickets to San Diego's Natural History Museum. Winning photos
will be published in News&Views.
TB Screenings, Hepatitis B Immunizations, and Serum Draws
On Monday, August 5, Wednesday, August 7, and Friday, August
9, personnel from Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group will be
on-site to conduct TB screenings, Hepatitis B immunizations,
and serum draws. The clinics will be conducted at the Administrative
Offices (3301 North Torrey Pines Court) on the P1 level from
11 AM to 2 PM. No appointments are necessary.
TB screening requires a 48 to 72 hour follow-up. Individuals
receiving the TB screen on Monday will need to return on Wednesday;
individuals screened on Wednesday, will need to return on
Friday. Initiation of the TB screening process will not be
available on Friday, but Hepatitis B immunization and serum
draws will be. To learn more about these programs, see the
Environmental Health & Safety
Occupational Medicine web page which includes a map and
patient information sheets.
Look for Next News&Views August 12
The next issue of News&Views, which is published every other
week throughout the summer, will be posted by Monday, August
12. The deadline for announcement and calendar submissions
is Wednesday at noon for the following Monday's publication.
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