Tuesday, August 2, 2011

New Grant Funding

I'm pleased to announce that I have been awarded an internal Academic Health Center Seed Grant for a new project titled "Mechanism of Action of RITA, a Small Molecule for MLL Leukemias" for 2011–2012. Although the grant is small, $25,000, it will be a big help in getting this new project off the ground. This is a project that I have recently begun with Professor John Kersey, the Founding Director of the Masonic Cancer Center, as well as my medicinal chemistry colleague, Dan Harki. The structure of RITA (NSC 652287, below) is rather simple, but its anticancer activity is extremely intriguing and has provided us with many avenues to study.



Monday, August 1, 2011

Congratulations to Will Fiers


This past Thursday, July 28, Will Fiers successfully passed his Preliminary Oral Examination! Will is a second-year graduate student in the lab, and he did an exceptional job in defending his written proposal, "Synthesis and Biological Activity of Constrained 7-Oxozeaenol Derivatives." He is now officially a Ph.D. candidate. Congratulations are in order to Will for passing this milestone!