There are many examples of natural products having highly specific effects on fundamental processes within an organism. In most of these examples the details of the interactions are not known. The goal of our research is to use natural products and analogs with related activity as specific probes to develop a better understanding of regulation, structure, and function of these biological processes.
Organic synthesis is at the heart of our research program.
It is the skill that is essential in preparing the necessary reagents to probe the biological interactions. Furthermore, using synthesis in this manner not only allow us to address biological questions, but also gives us an opportunity to make valuable contributions to the field of organic chemistry. Combining synthesis skills with selected techniques from protein chemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology has yielded a powerful multi-disciplinary program for advancing our understanding of a number of important scientific issues.