Natural Products Blog

Nominations are now open for the 2016 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship.

Nominate by Friday 14th August 2015

The 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?

To qualify
To be eligible for the Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship, the candidate should have completed their PhD on or after 31st December 2006 and have started publishing independent papers.

Lectureship details
The recipient will be invited to present a lecture at a conference during 2016. They will receive £500 towards travel and accommodation costs. They will also be presented with a certificate and be asked to contribute a Natural Product Reports article.

Nominations
Those wishing to make a nomination should send the following details to the Natural Product Reports Editorial Office by Friday 14^th August 2015:

• The name, affiliation and (if possible) web address of the nominee
• A paragraph outlining the reasons for nomination. This should include brief details of the nominee’s contributions to their field

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 at the Autumn Editorial Board meeting, and the winner will be announced in late 2015.

Previous Winners
2013: Rebecca Goss – University of St Andrews, UK
2014: Emily Balskus – Harvard University, USA
2015: Seth Herzon – Yale University, USA

Nominations are now open for the 2015 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship.

Nominate by Friday 26th September 2014

The 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?

To qualify
To be eligible for the Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship, the candidate should have completed their PhD on or after 31st December 2005.

Lectureship details
The recipient will be invited to present a lecture at a conference during 2015. They will receive £500 towards travel and accommodation costs. They will also be presented with a certificate and be asked to contribute a Natural Product Reports article.

Nominations
Those wishing to make a nomination should send the following details to the Natural Product Reports Editorial Office by Friday 26th September 2014:

• The name, affiliation and (if possible) web address of the nominee
• A paragraph outlining the reasons for nomination. This should include brief details of the nominee’s contributions to their field

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 at the Autumn Editorial Board meeting, and the winner will be announced in late 2014.

Previous Winners
2013: Rebecca Goss – University of St Andrews, UK
2014: Emily Balskus – Harvard University, USA

 Nominations are now open for the 2014 NPR Emerging Investigator Lectureship.

The 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 winner will deliver their lecture at an international meeting in the coming year.

Nominees should have completed their PhD on or after the 31st December 2001.

To nominate someone simply contact NPR Editor, Richard Kelly. All you need to provide are the name of the nominee and some very brief information about why you are nominating them. Nominations are open to everyone and should be received by 25^th February 2014.

The winner will be selected by an Editorial Board panel and the result will be announced in Spring 2014.

The winner for the 2013 Lectureship was Rebecca Goss from University of St Andrews, UK.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 NPR Lectureship.

Anyone can make a nomination for the award. Simply send the name of the person you would like to nominate, along with a brief justification, to the Editor, Dr Richard Kelly. All nominations should be received by Wednesday 30th November.

The NPR Lectureship is an annual event which is held at an international meeting of the recipient’s choosing. The recipient will be someone who has made significant research contribution to natural products chemistry in its broadest sense. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges, who will announce the result in early 2012.

Previous winners of the award include John Blunt of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and Jason Micklefield of the University of Manchester, UK.

We are delighted to announce that Professor Christian Hertweck from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research in Jena, Germany, is the winner of the 2011 NPR Lecture Award. Professor Hertweck was selected for his contribution to the field of biosynthesis.

“I am honoured that I have been nominated and selected for the NPR lecture award and would like to use this opportunity to thank my colleagues and collaborators for great teamwork and support”, said Professor Hertweck on winning the award. ”Without them, I guess I would not have much to say during the lecture…   

Also, reading NPR articles and reviews has always been an excellent way to keep up with the latest developments in natural product research – a constant source for inspiration. Thank you very much!”

The lecture will be delivered at the 52^nd annual meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, to be held in San Diego, US between July 30^th and August 3^rd this year. Also speaking at the meeting will be NPR Board members Guy Carter, Sarah O’Connor and Joern Piel, and 2010 NPR Lecture Award winner Christopher Walsh. For general information about the meeting please visit the conference website at http://www.asp2011.com.

The NPR Lecture Award is awarded to a researcher who has made a significant contribution to the field of natural products and who has also had some involvement with the journal. Professor Hertweck has authored a number of articles for NPR and you can view his most recent articles below:

The chemistry and biology of cytochalasans
Kirstin Scherlach, Daniela Boettger, Nicole Remme and Christian Hertweck
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2010, 27, 869-886 

Type II polyketide synthases: gaining a deeper insight into enzymatic teamwork
Christian Hertweck, Andriy Luzhetskyy, Yuri Rebets and Andreas Bechthold
Nat. Prod. Rep., 2007, 24, 162-190 

December saw the presentation of the 2010 NPR lecture award at the Pacifichem conference in Hawaii. Professor Chris Walsh, from Harvard Medical School in the US delivered his award lecture, entitled “Posttranslational approach to natural product biosynthesis” during the Natural Products Biosynthesis symposium at the meeting.

Professor Chris Walsh receives his award from NPR Chair Professor Brad Moore.

Professor Walsh was selected for the award in recognition of his work on natural product biosynthesis, in particular his work on investigating the structure and function of enzymes. He has written a number of articles for NPR, some of which you can view below:

Structural insights into nonribosomal peptide enzymatic assembly lines
Alexander Koglin, Christopher T. Walsh, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2009, (8),987-1000
DOI: 10.1039/b904543k

Total biosynthesis: in vitro reconstitution of polyketide and nonribosomal peptide pathways
Elizabeth S. Sattely, Michael A. Fischbach, Christopher T. Walsh, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2008, (4),757-793
DOI: 10.1039/b801747f

Biological formation of pyrroles: Nature’s logic and enzymatic machinery
Christopher T. Walsh, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova, Annaleise R. Howard-Jones, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2006, (4),517-531
DOI: 10.1039/b605245m

NPR sponsors a lecture each year at an international meeting. The recipient will have made a significant research contribution to natural products chemistry in its broadest sense, and will have published in or have had some affiliation to the journal. The award is open to anyone fitting these criteria.

The 2011 award winner will be announced in the next few weeks.