EDUCATION
- Diplom in Chemistry, University of Siegen, Germany, 1997
- Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2002
- Postdoctoral Fellow, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, 2002-05
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Hendrik Luesch, Ph.D., an associate professor of medicinal chemistry, received his Diplom in Chemistry at the University of Siegen (Germany) in 1997. He attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa to study marine natural products chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Richard E. Moore in 2002. He then undertook three years of postdoctoral studies as an Irving S. Sigal Fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla working with Professor Peter G. Schultz in the area of functional genomics and chemical biology. In 2005 he joined the faculty of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Florida as an assistant professor and was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2010. He combines his interest in marine natural products chemistry with systems biology approaches for the discovery and characterization of potential drugs and molecular drug targets.
AFFILIATIONS
Professional Societies
American Chemical Society
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Society of Pharmacognosy
Society for Neuroscience
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Institutional Affiliations
University of Florida Shands Cancer Center
Evelyn F. & William L. McKnight Brain Institute
Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease (CTRND)
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Luesch’s multidisciplinary research program at the interface of chemistry and biology combines classical natural products chemistry with high-throughput screening and chemical genomics. It involves most aspects of drug discovery ranging from the collection of promising marine organisms, bioassay development, NMR spectroscopic structure determination, total synthesis, mechanism-of-action studies, and pharmacology, up to the preclinical and clinical development of candidate molecules. His lab is producing a small but increasing pipeline of bioactive compounds that are at various developmental stages. He also uses functional genomics approaches to identify and characterize genes associated with disease processes, especially cancer and neurological disorders.
For more detailed information about his lab and ongoing research, click here:
PUBLICATIONS
Representative
Salvador, L. A.; Taori, K.; Biggs, J. S.; Jakoncic, J.; Ostrov, D. A.; Paul, V. J.; Luesch, H. “Potent Elastase Inhibitors from Cyanobacteria: Structural Basis and Mechanisms Mediating Cytoprotective and Anti-Inflammatory Effects in Bronchial Epithelial Cells” J. Med. Chem. 2013, 56, 1276‒1290.
Hong, J.; Luesch, H. “Largazole: From Discovery to Broad-Spectrum Therapy” Nat. Prod. Rep. 2012, 29, 449‒456.
Chen, Q.-Y.; Liu, Y.; Luesch, H. “Systematic Chemical Mutagenesis Identifies a Potent Novel Apratoxin A/E Hybrid with Improved in Vivo Antitumor Activity” ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2011, 81, 220‒229.
Kwan, J. C.; Ratnayake, R.; Abboud, K. A.; Paul, V. J.; Luesch, H. “Grassypeptolides A–C, Cytotoxic Bis-thiazoline Containing Marine Cyclodepsipeptides” J. Org. Chem. 2010, 75, 8012–8023.
Liu, Y.; Salvador, L. A.; Byeon, S.; Ying, Y.; Kwan, J. C.; Law, B. K.; Hong, J.; Luesch, H. “Anticolon Cancer Activity of Largazole, a Marine-Derived Tunable Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor” J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 2010, 335, 351–361.
Kwan, J. C.; Eksioglu, E. A.; Liu, C.; Paul, V. J.; Luesch, H. “Grassystatins A–C from Marine Cyanobacteria, Potent Cathepsin E Inhibitors That Reduce Antigen Presentation” J. Med. Chem. 2009, 52, 5732–5747.
Liu, Y.; Law, B. K.; Luesch, H. “Apratoxin A Reversibly Inhibits the Secretory Pathway by Preventing Cotranslational Translocation” Mol. Pharmacol. 2009, 76, 91–104.
Ying, Y.; Taori, K.; Kim, H.; Hong, J.; Luesch, H. “Total Synthesis and Molecular Target of Largazole, a Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 8455–8459.
Taori, K.; Paul, V. J.; Luesch, H. “Structure and Activity of Largazole, a Potent Antiproliferative Agent from the Floridian Marine Cyanobacterium Symploca sp.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 1806–1807.
Liu, Y.; Kern, J. T.; Walker, J. R.; Johnson, J. A.; Schultz, P. G.; Luesch, H. “A Genomic Screen for Activators of the Antioxidant Response Element” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2007, 104, 5205–5210.
Luesch, H.; Chanda, S. K.; Raya, R. M.; DeJesus, P. D.; Orth, A. P.; Walker, J. R.; Izpisúa Belmonte, J. C.; Schultz, P. G. “A Functional Genomics Approach to the Mode of Action of Apratoxin A” Nat. Chem. Biol. 2006, 2, 158–167.
Full Listing
Hendrik Luesch Publications List