Natural Products

Marcel Jaspars, University of Aberdeen, UK

Programme:

Thursday 6 August (morning and afternoon)

Friday 7 August (morning)

Keynote Speakers

Chemical ecology of bacterial mutualisms
Jon Clardy, Harvard Medical School, USA

Exploring polyketide diversity in microorganisms
Christian Hertweck, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany

The posttranslational modifications of lantibiotics, polycyclic thioether antibiotics
Wilfred A. van der Donk, University of Illinois, USA

Speakers

Proteomic investigation of secondary metabolism
Stefanie B. Bumpus, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA

Total synthesis of bioactive ether-bridged marine diterpenes
J. Stephen Clark, University of Glasgow, UK

Chemical potential during 2-pyridone biosynthesis in the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana
Russell J. Cox, University of Bristol, UK

Kinase and phosphatase modulators in potential therapies for hematological malignancies
Noel J. de Souza, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India

Oxygenated bicyclic and tricyclic sesterpenes from Fusarium proliferatum
Majekodunmi O. Fatope, Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman

Stereochemistry and biosynthesis of 3-alkylpiperidine alkaloids
Mary J. Garson, University of Queensland, Australia

Cyclic amidines: oxidative cyclization and siderophores
Raymond C.F. Jones, Loughborough University, UK

Towards structure-guided manipulation of aminocoumarin antibiotic biosynthesis
David M. Lawson, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK

Oxazolomycins and equisetins: novel antibiotic lead structures
M.G. Moloney, University of Oxford, UK

Natural products for health improvement
Alberto J. Núñez-Sellés, Cuban Chemical Society, Cuba

Biologically active natural products from the South Pacific
Subramaniam Sotheeswaran, University of the South Pacific, Fiji

The cyclization specificity of polyketide synthase
Shiou-Chuan (Sheryl) Tsai, University of California, Irvine, USA

Symposium Information

Our understanding of how and why natural products are made has increased dramatically over the last few years. This symposium will cover the advances in our understanding of the importance of natural products to symbioses, the use in some organisms of post translationally modified ribosomal peptides instead of the more widely understood non-ribosomal peptide synthetases and the use of metagenomics to access metabolites from environmental sources.  

An understanding of why and how organisms produce natural products will lead to the more rapid and targeted discovery of pharmacologically active compounds and the ability to modify them using molecular methods. A complex interplay between all these topics is developing. This integrated meeting will address the whole of this field and will be an excellent forum to allow cross-disciplinary discussion and collaborations.

This symposium is aimed at all those with an interest in secondary metabolites, especially molecular aspects and their potential application, including chemists, pharmacists/pharmacologists, biologists and molecular biologists.