Natural Products Blog

Winner of the 2024 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship

19 Jan 2024

By Daniel Robertshaw, Development Editor.

Congratulations to Professor Neha Garg, recipient of the 2024 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship!

The annual Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship recognises a researcher who has made a significant contribution to a natural products-related area of the chemical sciences in their early independent career. The Natural Product Reports Editorial Board have selected Professor Garg from the Georgia Institute of Technology as the winner this year.

“It is an honor to receive the 2024 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship. I am eternally grateful to my mentors (Profs. Pieter C. Dorrestein, Wilfred A. van der Donk, and Satish K. Nair) for teaching me to be a scientist, to my colleagues Valerie Paul and Julia Kubanek for their support, to Georgia Tech, to the selection committee, and my lab members for their hard work and infectious positivity.” – Professor Neha Garg

Professor Garg’s lectureship will be held at an event and date to be confirmed. To stay up to date with future announcements, follow us on X, LinkedIn or sign up to our news alerts.

More about Neha

Neha Garg is an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech broadly interested in understanding how small molecules shape microbial composition in complex environments. Garg obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2013 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Professors Wilfred A. van der Donk and Satish K. Nair. Neha’s dissertation work in Illinois was recognized by the Anne A Johnson work award and the Catherine Connor Outstanding Dissertation in Biotechnology award. She then worked with Professor Pieter C. Dorrestein as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, San Diego where she developed metabolomics methods to visualize microbial communities.

At Georgia Tech, Garg was awarded the NSF CAREER award, R35 MIRA award, and Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development award to develop –omics methods for investigating natural products-mediated chemical communication between host and microbe as well as mucus-associated probiotic and pathogenic microbes. Her work has been recognized by the ACS Organic Division with the Academic Young Investigator Award. She has also received several teaching awards at Georgia Tech including the Center for Teaching and Learning Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and the Vasser Woolley Award for Excellence in Instruction. In her research, Garg develops and applies interdisciplinary approaches in chemical microbiology, molecular biology, microscopy, mass spectrometry, and genomics to unveil the role of microbial, host, and chemical environments in the production of small molecule natural products.

Find out more about Neha and the work her lab is doing on her webpage.

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Natural Product Reports welcomes new Editorial Board member Roger Linington

08 Jan 2024

By Daniel Robertshaw, Development Editor.

Natural Product Reports is delighted to welcome Professor Roger Linington to the Editorial Board.

About Roger

Professor Linington received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Leeds and his Ph.D. in natural products chemistry from the University of British Columbia in Canada. He started his independent academic career at the University of California Santa Cruz before moving back to Canada in 2015. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University where he holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Natural Products and High-Throughput Screening.

His research program focuses on developing new tools in 1) chemical characterization of complex mixtures, 2) phenotypic fingerprinting of bioactive metabolites and 3) creation of informatics platforms to integrate chemical and biological datasets. Professor Linington’s research program integrates wet lab science in small molecule characterization with informatics tool development through the creation of open-source databases, webservers and informatics pipelines for small molecule discovery and characterization.

He has interests in both the practical aspects of small molecule identification and the technical aspects of developing new computational methods in this area. This includes separation science, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, database design, and algorithm development. His team maintains the Natural Products Atlas (www.npatlas.org), a database of all known microbial metabolites.

Find out more about Roger and his group on their website.

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Natural Product Reports welcomes new Advisory Board members

31 Oct 2023

By Daniel Robertshaw, Development Editor.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Roberto Berlinck (University of São Paulo), Dr Susana P. Gaudêncio (NOVA University of Lisbon), Dr Fidele Ntie-Kang (University of Buea), Dr Reiko Ueoka (Kitasato University) and Professor Weidong Zhang (Second Military Medical University) to the Natural Product Reports team as Advisory Board members.

Roberto is currently a Professor at the University of São Paulo. Research interests of Roberto include the biodiscovery of bioactive natural products, biosynthesis of microbial secondary metabolites, investigating the chemistry of microbe-holobionts associations as well as collaborative projects in synthesis and medicinal chemistry. One of Roberto’s group’s major interests is in developing new approaches towards the isolation of novel natural products. These include compounds from very complex biological matrixes, minor metabolites and water-soluble compounds, as well as methods for the optimisation of microbial metabolite production in order to increase isolation yields.

Susana has a MSc in Technological Organic Chemistry and a PhD in Organic Chemistry and is the Leader of the Blue Biotechnology & Biomedicine Lab at UCIBIO, NOVA-FCT, NOVA University of Lisbon. Her research focuses on the study of marine-derived Actinobacteria from off the coasts of the Portugal mainland and the Macaronesia Archipelagos for the discovery of bioactive natural products as lead-like agents for drug discovery and other biotechnological applications. She is a Working Group Leader, Management Committee Member and STSM Committee Member of the Cost Action Ocean4Biotech: CA18238 – European transdisciplinary networking platform for marine biotechnology. In 2019, she hosted two of the world’s most prestigious congresses in marine natural products, the joint XVI MANAPRO & XI ECMNP in Peniche, Portugal.

Fidele is an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, University of Buea in Cameroon where he also heads the Centre for Drug Discovery. After studying chemistry and physics at the University of Douala in Cameroon, he completed a PhD in computer-aided drug design. He then moved to Germany where he carried out postdoctoral research under Prof. Wolfgang Sippl leading to an habilitation in pharmaceutical chemistry. Since then, his research has been focused on chemoinformatics for natural products research, a topic in which he is an editor of a book series. He holds several editorial board appointments and is passionate about drug discovery from natural products identified from African medicinal plants. His major contribution is the development of the African Natural Products Database.

Reiko Ueoka obtained her PhD (2011) at the University of Tokyo and is currently a Junior Associate Professor at the School of Marine Biosciences, Kitasato University in Japan. Her research focuses on the discovery of novel natural products from bacteria by bioactivity-guided isolation and genome mining. She is also interested in their biosynthesis and the function of the modifying enzymes.

Wei-Dong Zhang is currently a professor of the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development and Second Military Medical University. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree from Second Military Medical University in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He received his PhD in Natural Product Chemistry in 1998 from the Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry with Professor Hui-Ting Li. His research focuses on the total synthesis, biological function, structural modification and structure-activity relationship of structurally complex and bioactive natural products.

Find some of their recent RSC publications below:

Visible-light-induced [3+2] cycloadditions of donor/donor diazo intermediates with alkenes to achieve (spiro)-pyrazolines and pyrazoles
Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 10411-10419, DOI: 10.1039/D3SC04188C, Edge Article

Uranyl nitrate as a recyclable homogeneous photocatalyst for selective cross-coupling of N-substituted amines and indoles
RSC. Adv., 2023, 13, 11929-11937, DOI: 10.1039/D3RA01037F, Paper

The isolation of water-soluble natural products – challenges, strategies and perspectives
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2022, 39, 596-669, DOI: 10.1039/D1NP00037C, Review Article

The chemistry and biology of guanidine secondary metabolites
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2021, 38, 586-667, DOI: 10.1039/D0NP00051E, Review Article

Cytotoxic and antitumor peptides as novel chemotherapeutics
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2021, 38, 7-17, DOI: 10.1039/D0NP00019A, Highlight

Post-synthetic functionalization of tryptophan protected peptide sequences through indole (C-2) photocatalytic alkylation
Chem. Commun., 2021, 57, 5758-5761, DOI: 10.1039/D1CC01822A, Communication

In search of therapeutic candidates for HIV/AIDS: rational approaches, design strategies, structure–activity relationship and mechanistic insights
RSC. Adv., 2021, 11, 17936-17964, DOI: 10.1039/D0RA10655K, Review Article

Natural products in Cyperus rotundus L. (Cyperaceae): an update of the chemistry and pharmacological activities
RSC. Adv., 2021, 11, 15070-15077, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA00478F, Review Article

Dereplication: racing to speed up the natural products discovery process
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2015, 32, 779-810, DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00134F, Review Article

Colibactin biosynthesis and biological activity depend on the rare aminomalonyl polyketide precursor
Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 13138-13141, DOI: 10.1039/C5CC02718G, Communication

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Winner of the 2023 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship

15 Jun 2023

By Daniel Robertshaw, Development Editor.

Congratulations to Professor Christine Beemelmanns, recipient of the 2023 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship!

The annual Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship recognises a researcher who has made a significant contribution to a natural products-related area of the chemical sciences in their early independent career. The Natural Product Reports Editorial Board have selected Professor Beemelmanns from the Helmholtz Institute of Pharmaceutical Research Saarland as the winner this year.

Photo courtesy of Anna Schroll (HKI)

“It is an honour to receive the 2023 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the selection committee for recognising my work. I would also like to acknowledge my mentors and colleagues with whom I have had the privilege to collaborate, and which undoubtedly influenced and enriched my work.

I also want to express my profound appreciation for the remarkable group of young scientists who have contributed their work and passion to make this achievement possible, and my family, which supported me throughout my career. Without their dedication, this work would not have been possible.” – Professor Christine Beemelmanns

Professor Beemelmanns’ lectureship will be held virtually at a date to be confirmed. To stay up to date with future announcements, follow us on Twitter @NatProdReports or sign up to our news alerts.

More about Christine

Christine Beemelmanns studied Chemistry at the RWTH Aachen, and after graduation went to Japan for a one-year research stay in the group of Prof. Sodeoka at RIKEN. Back in Germany she worked at the FU Berlin with Prof. Reißig and received her PhD in Organic Chemistry. She then worked another six months in Japan at the University of Tokyo under the supervision of Prof. K. Suzuki and joined shortly afterwards the group of Prof. Clardy at Harvard Medical School (Boston) in 2011. At the end of 2013, she received a call from the Hans-Knöll Institute (HKI) to work there as a Junior Research Group leader in the field of Natural Products Chemistry and Chemical Biology. In 2020, she was elected as Margaret L. and Harlan L. Goering Visiting Professors in Organic Chemistry at UW Madison. In 2022 she was appointed Professor for Biochemistry of Microbial Metabolism at the Leipzig University and shortly after was appointed a Full Professorship on Medicinal-Pharmaceutical Microbiota Research at Saarland University together with the HIPS.

In her research projects, Christine focuses on the chemical and functional analysis of co-evolved microbial interactions. Her group combines natural product chemistry with applied microbiology and molecular biology to identify important microbial natural products from these symbiotic communities that are composed of unprecedented chemical core structures and display pharmacological important activities.

Find out more about Christine and the work her lab is doing on their webpage.

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Natural Product Reports welcomes new Editorial Board members

19 Apr 2023

By Daniel Robertshaw, Development Editor.

Natural Product Reports is delighted to welcome Associate Professor Alessandra Eustáquio and Professor Hidetoshi Tokuyama to the Editorial Board.

About Alessandra

Alessandra holds a BSc in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from the University of São Paulo, Brazil and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Biology from the University of Tübingen, Germany. After undergoing postdoctoral training at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, she was a Principal Scientist in the Natural Products group of Pfizer’s Research & Development site in Connecticut, USA for four years.

She is currently an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on natural product biosynthesis and the development of synthetic biology tools to facilitate access to natural and engineered molecules. Find out more about Alessandra’s research on her webpage.

About Hidetoshi

Hidetoshi is a Professor at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University in Japan. He obtained a BSc, MSc and PhD in Chemistry from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1990, 1992 and 1994, respectively, supervised by Professor Eiichi Nakamura. After spending a year as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Amos B Smith III at the University of Pennsylvania, he started his academic career as an assistant professor in Professor Tohru Fukuyama’s group at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo in 1996, where he was later promoted to lecturer and associate professor. Since 2006, he has been a full professor at Tohoku University.

His research focuses on the development of synthetic methodologies including highly chemoselective functional group interconversions and the construction of N-containing heterocycles, and the total synthesis of structurally complex natural products. Find out more about Hidetoshi’s research on his webpage.

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Winner of the 2022 NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship

28 Apr 2022

By Samantha Apps, Deputy Editor.

Jinghan Gui receives the 2022 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship

We are delighted to announce that Professor Jinghan Gui has been chosen by the NPR Editorial Board as this year’s recipient of the lectureship.

“It is a great honor to receive the NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship. I’d like to thank the nominator and the Editorial Board of NPR, my mentors (Profs. Weisheng Tian and Phil S. Baran) and SIOC colleagues for their tremendous support over the years, as well as my lab members for their hard work.” – Prof. Jinghan Gui

His lectureship will be held virtually at date to be confirmed. To stay up to date with future announcements, follow us on Twitter @NatProdReports or sign-up to our news alerts.

More about Jinghan

Jinghan Gui received his B.S. degree from Anhui Normal University in 2007. After completing his Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) under the guidance of Prof. Weisheng Tian in 2012, he went on to pursue his postdoctoral research with Prof. Phil S. Baran at The Scripps Research Institute in February 2013. In March 2016, he moved back to SIOC to begin his independent research career. His research focuses on the efficient synthesis of complex, biologically active natural products, including steroids and terpenoids.

Find out more about him and the work his lab is doing on their webpage.

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Nominate for the 2022 Emerging Investigator Lectureship

06 Sep 2021

By Jack Washington, Development Editor.

Nominations are now open for the 2022 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship.

This lectureship recognises a researcher who has made a significant contribution to a natural products-related area of the chemical sciences in their early independent career. Nominations can be made by anyone, so why not nominate a colleague, collaborator, or someone whose work you admire today?

Nominations must be submitted by 08 October 2021

Who can be nominated?

To be eligible for the Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship candidates must be within the first six years of their independent career, either in academia or industry, have started publishing independent papers and have made a significant contribution to natural products-related research.

How to nominate

Those wishing to make a nomination should email the following details to the Editorial Office at npr-rsc@rsc.org by 08 October 2021:

The name, affiliation and (if possible) web address of the nominee
At least one paragraph outlining the reasons for nomination. This should include brief details of the nominee’s contributions to their field. Additional supporting information, for example their CV, would be helpful but is not mandatory for making a nomination.

Selection procedure

The Natural Product Reports Editorial Board will draw up a short-list of candidates based on the information provided at nomination. The board will then vote to select the recipient and the winner will be announced in late 2021.

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Welcoming Dr Cassandra Quave to the NPR Editorial Board

29 Jul 2021

By Samantha Apps, Deputy Editor.

Natural Product Reports is delighted to welcome Dr Cassandra L. Quave to the Editorial Board.

About Cassandra:

Dr Cassandra Quave is Curator of the Herbarium and Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University, USA, where she leads natural product drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, microbiology, and pharmacology. She obtained a B.Sc. in Biology and Anthropology (Emory University, 2000) and a Ph.D. in Biology (Florida International University, 2008).

Dr. Quave’s research is supported by the NIH, industry contracts, and philanthropy. She is a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a past President of the Society for Economic Botany, a recipient of the Emory Williams Teaching Award and Charles Heiser, Jr. Mentor Award. She is the host of Foodie Pharmacology, a podcast dedicated to exploring the links between food and medicine. Dr Quave has authored more than 100 scientific publications, two edited books, and seven patents. Her research has been the subject of feature profiles in the New York Times Magazine, BBC Science Focus, National Geographic Magazine, Brigitte Magazin, NPR, PBS, and the National Geographic Channel. She is the author of a science memoir entitled The Plant Hunter: One Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines.

As a medical ethnobotanist, Cassandra’s work focuses on the documentation and pharmacological evaluation of plants used in traditional medicine. Find out more about about Cassandra’s research on her webpage.

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Welcoming Prof. Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt to the NPR Editorial Board

19 May 2021

By Catherine Hodges - Deputy Editor.

Prof. Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt

Natural Product Reports is delighted to welcome Professor Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt to the Editorial Board.

Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt holds a degree in Microbiology from the University of Bonn. After her PhD in 1997, she joined the Anti-Infectives Research Department of Bayer HealthCare, leading hit and lead discovery teams for 8 years. In 2004, she co-founded the anti-infective biotech company AiCuris, Wuppertal, Germany. She returned to academia as a professor for Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Duesseldorf in 2010, and four years later became Chair of the Department of Microbial Bioactive Compounds at the University of Tuebingen. She is speaker of the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre TRR261 ‘Cellular Mechanisms of Antibiotic Action and Production’ and co-speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “Controlling Microbes to Fight Infection”.

Heike is particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms of new antibacterial natural products and the operation modes of novel antibiotic targets. Find out more about Heike’s research on her webpage, or by reading her Open Access NPR article below:

Conformational control of the bacterial Clp protease by natural product antibiotics

Nat. Prod. Rep., 2017,34, 815-831

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Winner of the 2021 NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship

04 May 2021

By James Anson.

Hans Renata receives the 2021 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship

We are delighted to announce that Associate Professor Hans Renata has been chosen by the NPR Editorial Board as this year’s receipient of the lectureship.

“It is an honor to receive the 2021 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship. I would like to thank the selection committee, my mentors and colleagues (Phil, Frances, Ben, Ryan, Keary) who have supported me over the years, and last but not least, my lab members for their hard work and creativity, without which this work would not be possible.” – Prof. Hans Renata

His lectureship will be held virtually at date to be confirmed. To stay up to date with future announcements, follow us on Twitter @NatProdReports or sign-up to our news alerts.

More about Hans

Hans Renata received his B.A. degree from Columbia University in 2008 and earned his Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute in 2013 under the guidance of Prof. Phil S. Baran. After postdoctoral studies with Prof. Frances H. Arnold at Caltech, he began his independent career at The Scripps Research Institute in 2016. His research focuses on synthetic and biosynthetic studies of natural products and biocatalytic reaction developments.

Find out more about him and the work his lab is doing on their webpage.

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Natural Products Blog

Winner of the 2024 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Natural Product Reports welcomes new Editorial Board member Roger Linington

Natural Product Reports welcomes new Advisory Board members

Winner of the 2023 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Natural Product Reports welcomes new Editorial Board members

Winner of the 2022 NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Nominate for the 2022 Emerging Investigator Lectureship

Welcoming Dr Cassandra Quave to the NPR Editorial Board

Welcoming Prof. Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt to the NPR Editorial Board

Winner of the 2021 NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship

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