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Summer research students on Professor Ovaska´s team use nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to confirm structures of the molecules that are synthesized.

August 02, 2006

Chemistry professor Timo Ovaska and four CC students are working this summer to create molecules, similar to natural molecules called frondosins, in a campus lab. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) wants to test them to see if they can be used in the battles against cancer, arthritis, asthma and HIV.

In July, the Hans & Ella McCollum ´21 Vahlteich Professor of Chemistry received a $205,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his research.

"We are building molecular structures that are similar to natural molecules called frondosins," he said. "These molecules were recently isolated from a Micronesian marine sponge and found to have biological activity against interleukin-8 (IL-8)." IL-8 is a peptide involved in a several inflammatory disorders, such as arthritis, asthma and other lung diseases. Ovaska said the team has recently developed "some novel chemistry that seems to be particularly well suited for the synthesis of the frondosin class of natural products." His team uses nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to confirm structures of the molecules that are synthesized.

The NCI will perform biological testing on all the molecules. It is possible, Ovaska said, that some of these molecules will serve as starting points for the development of new medicines.

"People generally know that a lot of drugs have their origins in terrestrial plant sources but what they don´t know is that a lot of the current natural product research is focused on finding bioactive molecules from various marine organisms," said Ovaska. "There a real ´quest for drugs from the sea´ nowadays. Unfortunately, those materials found to be medically useful are typically produced only in tiny amounts, making their harvesting from these natural sources viable only on scales so large as to be ecologically unacceptable.

"Organic synthesis most feasibly generates these products in quantities sufficient for full biological evaluation. That´s what we are trying to do, focusing on a particular class of compounds, the frondosins."

Faculty-student collaboration: research is a priority for CC faculty, and students often collaborate with their professors on research projects and co-author papers with them.

For more information contact: Amy Sullivan (860) 439-2526; amy.sullivan@conncoll.edu