The American Society Discovering Nature’s of Molecular Pharmacognosy Potential The ASP Newsletter : Volume 51, Issue 3 ASP Fellow Ōmura Wins Nobel Prize By Dr. David J. Kroll he international pharmacognosy community is bursting with Dr. Satoshi Ōmura, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Kitasato pride over the October 5th announcement of the 2015 Nobel University and Institute Advisor, the first ASP member to receive a Prize in Physiology and Medicine, recognizing two natural Nobel Prize in any discipline. Dr. Ōmura most recently published products chemists and a former Merck biologist for the dis- in the Journal of Natural Products in 2007. coveryT and development of drugs against debilitating and deadly Dr. Ōmura was jointly awarded half of the prize with his then- parasitic infections. Among this year’s laureates is ASP Fellow continued on page 4 President Kennelly Addresses ASP Members By Dr. Edward J. Kennelly t is truly an honor to begin my one-year term as the President of the American Society of Pharmacognosy. As I think back over the past 25 years I have been an ASP member, so many important events in my scientific career are tied closely to the Society. I would not be where I am today without the help of the Society and its members. I hope whether you Iare a long-time or new ASP member you too have experienced the many positive benefits of ASP membership. I feel fortunate to become President at a time that the Society is going particularly strong. Our flagship publication, theJournal of Natural Products, edited for 21 years by Dr. A. Doug- las Kinghorn, continues to thrive with a strong impact factor and expanded pages. The ASP agreement with our co-publisher, the American Chemical Society, has provided significant revenue to the Society that helps to subsidize many of our activities. Our membership is holding steady over the past several years. Our annual meetings are popular with members and non-members alike. There is much indeed to be thankful for in our Society. While the Society is going strong, I do not think it is a time to sit back and rest on our Dr. Edward Kennelly continued on page 3 IN THIS ISSUE: FALL 2015 Editor’s Corner 2 ASP Foundation Donors 15 Opiates from Modified Microbes 22 ASP Annual Meeting a Success 5 ASP Rebranding Initiative Update 16 Meet a New Member 25 Andersen Receives Farnsworth Award 8 Meet the 30 ASP Fellows 17 New Members 26 Angerhofer Receives Tyler Prize 10 ASP Symposium Honors Wani 18 Conference Calendar 27 MacMillan Presented Suffness Award 11 New Book on Pettit 20 Brief News from Washington 28 Annual Awards 12 Nakanishi Turns 90! 21 From the Archives 30 Younger Members Get High in Colorado 13 www.pharmacognosy.us EDITOR’S CORNER EMPLOYMENT SERVICE his is the first issue of theASP Newsletter that I have edited in my role as ASP President. I hope you will The Society offers a take a look at the lead article I wrote that sets forth placement service to aid my assessment of the current state of the Society, our members in seeking Tand some of my goals as ASP President this year. I think it positions or employees. is an exciting time in the Society, especially with ASP Fellow This service is available Ōmura’s Nobel Prize announcement, but also a time to con- only to ASP members and sider ways we can continue to grow and flourish. is free to both the appli- The ASP Annual Meeting in Cooper Mountain, Colorado was cant and the employer. a great success with over 570 attendees. I want to thank Drs. For more information see Robert Cichewicz, Susan Mooberry, and all of the members the services website. of the organizing committees for making this such a great meeting on both the scientific and social fronts. Robert re- www.pharmacognosy.us/jobs/ caps some of the highlights from this meeting in his News- letter article. We also have individual articles on the winners of three major prizes for the Society, the Norman Farnsworth Achievement Award (Dr. Raymond Andersen), the Varro Tyler Prize (Dr. Cindy Angerhofer), and the Matt Suffness Award (Dr. John MacMillan). I con- NEWSLETTER gratulate all of the award winners (see the complete list in this Newsletter), and I hope this STAFF will inspire others to apply or nominate candidates for the 2017 awards. The 2016 annual meeting will be a joint conference with our European colleagues in Copenhagen (July 24- Edward J. Kennelly, Ph.D. 27); for those not able to attend, we will also have an interim meeting in Oxford Mississippi Editor-In-Chief (April 11-14). Please mark your calendars. Amy C. Keller, Ph.D. Two ASP Fellows, Drs. Koji Nakanishi and Mansukh Wani, turned 90 years old this year. Both Assistant Editor remain active members of ASP. Dr. Wani joined us as usual for the annual meeting where there was a special symposium in his honor. Please read the Newsletter account of this symposium, Nancy Novick and learn more about Dr. Wani’s amazing career in natural products. Dr. Nakanishi celebrated Design & Production his birthday with a gathering of former students, postdocs, and colleagues at Columbia Univer- Devhra BennettJones sity. I was glad to stop by this celebration, and see so many ASP members participating. You Gordon Cragg, Ph.D. can learn more about his long career in the Newsletter article written by Dr. Roy Okuda. Kevin Tidgewell, Ph.D. I want to thank the more than 120 ASP members who completed the online ASP Newslet- ASP Newsletter Committee ter survey over the summer. At the Annual Meeting, the Newsletter Editors and Newsletter Committee met to go over the results, and discuss ways to implement changes in the fu- ISSN 2377-8520 (print) ture. One clear message from the survey was that members appreciated articles related to SSN 2377-8547 (online) scientific advances in pharmacognosy, and ASP Fellow, Dr. Dave Newman’s “Hot Topics” ar- The contribution deadlines are: ticle was cited as the most read column in the Newsletter. I appreciate Dave’s commitment Spring Issue Feb. 15 to writing for the Newsletter, and this edition he has a wonderful contribution about opioid Summer Issue May 15 compounds. ASP Fellow Dr. Gordon Cragg also contributed an article about the scientific Fall Issue Aug. 15 achievements and setbacks of ASP member Dr. Robert Pettit. I hope we can expand our Winter Issue Nov. 15 science-based articles in future Newsletters. Finally, on a sad note, ASP Business Manager, Ms. Laura Stoll, lost her husband, Scott, at the Please send information to: age of 43. Many ASP members who attended meetings in New York (2012), St. Louis (2013), and Copper Mountain (2014) may remember Laura as a caring and unflappable person man- Edward J. Kennelly, Ph.D. Editor In Chief, ASP Newsletter ning the ASP table at these conferences. I extend my deepest sympathies to Laura and her Department of Biological Sciences two young children, Laura’s parents, Dr. David Slatkin (former ASP Treasurer), his wife Judy, and Lehman College, CUNY the entire Stoll-Slatkin family. When I heard of this terrible news, I wrote to the ASP Executive 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West Committee, saying “While I realize we are foremost a professional society, I think the bonds of Bronx, NY 10468 friendship many of us form is a key reason for the success of the ASP. I still remember the late 718-960-1105 Matt Suffness describing in the ASP Newsletter how important the notes and cards he received from fellow ASP members were to him during his battle with cancer.” If you know Laura, I hope [email protected] you will take a moment to reach out to her during this difficult time. Dr. Edward J. Kennelly THE ASP NEWSLETTER VOLUME 51, ISSUE 3 PAGE 2 President Kennelly Addresses ASP Members continued from page 1 years, names are less important than actions. I think ASP is laurels. Rather, I think we need to take actions that ensure that involved in activities that have made us leaders in the field, like the Society will be well positioned for the next half century of its co-publishing the Journal of Natural Products, holding world-class existence. Part of that forward-thinking approach is the rebrand- annual meetings, providing travel grants to students and mem- ing initiative that the Society underwent in the past year with bers, and recognizing outstanding scientists in our field. The graduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brand rose smells sweet indeed no matter its name. Center. Some of the more straight-forward recommendations are In addition to the rebranding, I have been in discussion with the Executive Committee about ways in which we can invest in our future due to our strong financial situ- ation at the moment. Currently, the foundation has about $1,000,000, and we draw on the interest to pay for many wonderful travel and scientific awards that the Society offers to members at all levels, from undergraduate students to distinguished scientists. We are looking to expand the awards portfolio as well. I truly appreciate the hard work of the ASP Foun- dation board members who guide these investments to benefit the Society as a whole. However, I want to challenge the Society to con- sider ways in which we can invest in other ways. I specifically look at the actions of the first ASP President, Dr. Varro Tyler, who decided to invest the newly formed Society’s money into a small journal published by the Lloyd Library in Cincinnati, Ohio.