Project Funding Details

Abstract The goal of this R13 application is to request partial funding for the upcoming Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products and Bioactive Compounds, to be held on July 28 ? August 2, 2019 at Proctor Academy in Andover, NH. The meeting will be chaired by Matthew J. LaMarche, Senior Investigator and Group Leader at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, an internationally-recognized researcher in the field of natural products, medicinal chemistry, and oncology/antibacterial drug discovery. The vice-chair will be a respected researcher from academia who will be elected by conferees at the 2018 GRC. Throughout history, natural products have been an inspiration to researchers from diverse fields. Their complex structures have stimulated investigation of biosynthetic pathway origins and inspired new chemical reactions and synthetic strategies enabling their preparation and structural confirmation. Chemical ecology studies have demonstrated that organisms that produce natural products have evolutionary selection advantages. These studies have stimulated mechanistic understanding of natural products? modulation of unique biological pathways. Collectively, the field has enabled the search for next generation chemotherapeutic agents for human disease, including the most pressing unmet clinical needs, such as multidrug resistant bacterial infection, cancer, and rare genetic diseases. Two-thirds of all marketed pharmaceuticals have natural product origins. The field continues to evolve as technological advances enable identification and characterization of minute chemical components from complex mixtures, the fermentation of previously uncultured bacteria, and the genetic manipulation of natural product producing organisms. The overall conference objective is to provide a forum for advancing the field from fundamental methodological and technological discovery and development to applications of clinical relevance. International researchers at senior and junior levels from academic, governmental, and industrial sectors as well as current student and postdoctoral trainees will be invited. Attendees will share their latest research findings as well as new paradigms for collaboration and help establish future initiatives in this broad, diverse field. The 68th Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products in 2019 will feature outstanding lectures and researchers that explore the therapeutic potential of natural products and related bioactive compounds through the development of chemical and biological technologies. Approximately, thirty lecture-style presentations are meant to highlight unpublished research and stimulate high-caliber discussion. Complementary informal research discussions, typically about seventy-five, will occur via interactive poster sessions in a relaxed, social setting. The conference format also provides significant opportunity for professional development and social interactions between conference attendees. The meeting will be advertised to a diverse audience to include early career and under-represented scientists in multiple fields related to the program.

Narrative Natural products are nature?s privileged chemical messengers, and the study of these secondary metabolites inspires novel synthetic methodologies, requires innovative chemical and biological syntheses, unlocks mysteries of biological targets and cellular pathways, and provides constant opportunity to affect human health. The 2019 Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products and Bioactive Compounds will promote cross- disciplinary advances in natural product discovery and the study of their therapeutic potential, as more than 60% of current FDA-approved therapeutics are derived from natural products. The continued advancement of basic, applied, and clinical research of these novel entities will continue to positively impact human health. PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04, Reissued 4/2006) Page Continuation Format Page