Chemical Biology of Natural Products
This unique, long-awaited volume is designed to address contemporary aspects of natural product chemistry and its influence on biological systems, not solely on human interactions. The subjects covered include discovery, isolation and characterization, biosynthesis, biosynthetic engineering, pharmaceutical, and other applications of these compounds.
Each chapter begins with a brief and simple introduction to the subject matter, and then proceeds to guide the reader towards the more contemporary, cutting-edge research in the field, with the contributing authors presenting current examples from their own work in order to exemplify key themes.
Topics covered in the text include genome mining, heterologous expression, natural product synthesis, biosynthesis, glycosylation, chemical ecology, and therapeutic applications of natural products, both current and potential.
About the Author: David J. Newman retired from the position of chief of the Natural Products Branch (NPB) in the Developmental Therapeutics Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Frederick, Maryland, in early January 2015.
He is the author or coauthor of over 180 papers, reviews, and book chapters (and an editor, with Gordon M. Cragg and David Kingston, of Anticancer Agents from Natural Products), and holds 18 patents, mainly on microbial products. He is still associated with the NPB/NCI as a special volunteer and also has a small consulting business.
Gordon M. Cragg obtained his undergraduate training in chemistry at Rhodes University, South Africa, and his DPhil (organic chemistry) from Oxford University.
He has established collaborations between the NCI and organizations in many countries, promoting drug discovery from their natural resources. He has authored or coauthored over 180 papers, reviews, and book chapters.
Paul G. Grothaus earned a BSChem from Creighton University in 1977 and his PhD from Purdue University in 1983, where he completed the first enantiospecific total synthesis of a trichothecene mycotoxin, anguidine.
In 2007, he joined the Natural Products Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, where he coordinates biomass collections, biological screening of extracts, and collaborations with external natural product researchers. Dr. Grothaus is the author or coauthor of 24 papers, reviews, and book chapters and holds 5 patents.
