Gary Sulikowski has been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon him by his peers.
He is among 486 scientists from around the country who have been elevated to this rank because of his efforts to advance science or its applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. New fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Sulikowski, Stevenson Professor of Chemistry and associate director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology's chemical synthesis core, was commended for his contributions to the field of natural products synthesis and biosynthesis.
Sulikowski's research group has synthesized several anti-tumor antibiotics isolated from various soil microorganisms; studied the biosynthesis of two compounds called phomoidrides derived from fungi identified by Pfizer during a screening of natural product extracts for anticancer and cholesterol-lowering activity and, in the process, discovered two additional phomoidrides. Currently, he and his colleagues are pursuing the synthesis of several natural products: an anti-malarial agent isolated from coral; alkaloids from Indonesian sponges; and, an antibiotic derived from a soil bacterium that has shown selective cytotoxicity to colon cancer cells. Last Updated: January 29, 2009 |
