In Brief

Paper by Boger Lab Ranked Best in 2012 by Organic Letters

A paper detailing ongoing research on the synthesis of vinblastine analogues in the lab of Dale Boger, chair of the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been selected by the publishers as the best of those appearing in Organic Letters during 2012.

Vinblastine and vincristine represent one of the earliest and most important contributions that plant-derived natural products have made to cancer chemotherapy.

In addition to Boger, the paper, titled “Iron(III)/NaBH4-Mediated Additions to Unactivated Alkenes: Synthesis of Novel 200-Vinblastine Analogues,” (Vol. 14, No. 6, 1428-1431) was authored by Erick K. Leggans (now at Grinnell College in Iowa), Research Associate Timothy J. Barker and graduate student Katharine K. Duncan.

Boger will present the paper and related efforts at a symposium during the National American Chemical Society Meeting in Indianapolis next fall.

Kanny Wan Selected to Attend Meeting with Nobel Laureates

The Scripps Research Institute’s (TSRI) Kanny Wan is one of just 550 graduate students worldwide selected to attend the 63^rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an international forum of Nobel scientists and the next generation of leading scientists and researchers.

Established in 1951, the Lindau Meeting program features lectures, discussion sessions, master classes, panel discussions and informal encounters to facilitate scientific exchange between generations, disciplines, and nationalities. Thirty-five Nobel Prize winners will attend the week-long 2013 meeting, scheduled for this summer in Lindau, Germany. The meeting will focus on green chemistry and biochemical processes and structures.

Wan, who is a member of the Shenvi lab at TSRI, is currently working on the total syntheses of a family of complex marine terpenoids that exhibit selective cytotoxicity against several lines of human cancer cells. She received a travel award from the National Science Foundation’s Mathematical and Physical Science Directorate to attend the Lindau Meeting.

FL Campus Career Workshops: Career Transitions and Scientific Manuscripts

Two upcoming career workshops for postdocs and graduate students will be presented by the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office on the Florida campus.

Career Transitions
A three-session Career Transitions Workshop, designed to help participants examine career options within and outside academia, is scheduled Thursdays, March 14 and March 21, 1:30 to 3:30 PM, and Friday, March 22, 9:30 to 11:30 AM, in Building B, Conference Room B393.

Workshop facilitators Ryan Wheeler, manager of the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office, and Michael Matrone, the office’s program coordinator, will lead participants in a confidential small-group environment, examining personal skills, interests, values and goals.

Parrticipants must register for and commit to all three workshop sessions. Registration is available through http://hris.scripps.edu/training/class/CTW2012FPD.

Writing and Publishing Scientific Manuscripts
Demystifying the process of scientific manuscript writing and publishing is the goal of a workshop scheduled for Monday, March 18, 3:30 to 5 PM, in Classroom B159.

Conducted by Mike Matrone, program coordinator for the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office, the session aims to help participants understand the fundamentals of effective science writing. The workshop will cover:

Scientific manuscript preparation
Common writing errors
The submission and review process
Professional responses to reviews

Reservations are required. Additional information on other Career and Postdoctoral Services Office resources is available on the department’s website.

CA Campus New Faculty Welcome: March 14

The annual New Faculty Happy Hour; welcoming recently arrived faculty members to the California campus, will be held Thursday, March 14, 5 PM in the Faculty Club Tennis room. The event is sponsored jointly by the Network for Women in Science, the Society of Fellows and the TSRI graduate program.

Open to the entire TSRI community, the event provides an informal setting for interaction and networking. Refreshments and Amazon gift card raffle prizes will be offered; no RSVP required. New faculty members interested in attending are asked to contact Laurie Gay at ljgay@scripp.edu or x4-2720.

Lab Management Training: March 15-16 on Florida Campus

The two-day South Florida Academic Leadership Symposium, offering training on how to run an innovative and productive research lab, will be held Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 16, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, at the Max Planck Florida Institute in Jupiter.

The course is designed for postdocs and junior faculty in the biomedical, physical and life sciences from South Florida institutes, including TRSI, Max Planck, Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and University of Miami. The program is also open to graduate students and staff scientists.

Similar to the six-year program that has been presented in San Diego, symposium topics will include teambuilding, communications, leadership styles, time management, lab set-up, tenure issues and science marketing.

Course fees are: $25, graduate students; $50, postdocs; $75, junior faculty and staff scientists. Registration and additional details are available at http://sfals2013.eventbrite.com. For further information, contact Michael Matrone at matrone@scripps.edu or (858) 784-9391.

FL Campus Academic Careers Roundtable: Grants and Promotions

How to secure grants and faculty promotions is the focus of the next Academic Careers Roundtable discussion, to be held Wednesday, March 20, noon to 1 PM, in room B252 on the Florida campus.

Michael Farzan, TSRI professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases is the faculty guest for the discussion, “Negotiating Grants and Academic Promotions.” Farzan joined TRSI in 2012 from Harvard Medical School, where he served on the faculty for 13 years.

Presented by the Career and Postdoctoral Services Office, the roundtable series is formatted as an informal conversation with students, postdocs and a featured guest. Lunch will be served; reservations are required.

Female Scientists to Share Career Paths at FL NWiS Meeting

Three female scientists will share insights and advice from their non-research career paths at the next Florida campus Network for Women in Science chapter meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, March 20, 4 to 5 PM in room B158.

The speakers are Dawn Johnson, senior director of Scripps Florida operations, Deborah Leach-Scampavia, who leads the campus’s education and outreach programs, and Rosie Albarran Zeckle, education researcher.

For details on other Florida campus NWiS activities and resources, visit the group’s website. To sign up for NWiS e-mails, contact Briana Weiser, graduate student in the Tellinghuisen lab and event organizer, at (561) 228-2444 or bweiser@scripps.edu.

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu

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