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James B. Gloer |
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Roy J. Carver/Ralph L. Shriner Professor of Chemistry |
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Office: E515
CB email: james-gloer@uiowa.edu |
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Biosketch:
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| Recent Publications | |
Research Interests
Our research program is dedicated to the discovery, isolation, and structure determination of novel biologically active natural products from fungi. Many antibiotics, anticancer agents, and other important pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals in use today have been discovered through studies of the chemistry of bacteria and fungi. Our studies utilize observations in fungal ecology in order to target certain classes of fungi as logical sources of valuable new metabolites. Through these studies, we also seek to contribute to a better understanding of the roles of these compounds in the life cycles of the organisms that produce them. Current efforts in this area include studies of fungal metabolites involved in interspecies competition within natural ecosystems, and investigations of fungi that attack, colonize, and damage others as potential sources of antifungal agents. This research is interdisciplinary, and most of our projects involve collaboration with mycologists and colleagues from other neighboring disciplines.
The process of discovering and isolating biologically active natural products is guided by assays that have pharmaceutical or agricultural relevance, including antifungal, antibacterial, antiinsectan, and anticancer screens. Some of these bioassays are carried out by our research group, while others are conducted by collaborating scientists. We employ a variety of chromatographic techniques, especially HPLC, in the analysis, isolation, and purification of compounds of interest. State-of-the-art methods for structure determination, such as high resolution mass spectrometry, high-field 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and 2D-NMR techniques are then applied to the solution of structural and stereochemical problems. Some representative new bioactive natural products discovered through recent work in our group are shown in the accompanying figure. These metabolites exemplify the prolific biosynthetic capabilities of fungi, and include compounds with new ring systems and representatives of other rare structural classes.
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| Some new bioactive fungal metabolites discovered recently in our research program |
