2023 SVACS Harry & Carol Mosher Award

2023 SVACS Harry & Carol Mosher Award

The 2023 Mosher Award recipients are Drs. Cynthia Maryanoff and Bruce Maryanoff.  

• Date: Thursday, January 25, 2024
• Time: Networking Reception 5:30-7pm, Presentations 7-8pm
• Location: Sapp Center, Stanford University. The Sapp Center for Science Teaching and Learning is located in the remodeled “Old Chemistry” building on the Stanford Campus. 376 Lomita Dr, Stanford. Free parking at Roth Way Garage after 4 pm (see map at the bottom of this post).

Initiated in 1980, the Silicon Valley ACS Harry and Carol Mosher Award recognizes individuals who advance the chemistry profession, make impactful scientific contributions, and support ACS in their outreach efforts to share chemistry with the general public.  The award includes an ACS engraved plaque, a $2,000 honorarium, and a Mosher Lecture event. 

Abstracts

Adventures in Drug Discovery: TOPAMAX® (Topiramate) for Treating Epilepsy and Migraine. Bruce E. Maryanoff, formerly at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Spring House, PA 19477-0776

During my 35-year career in the pharmaceutical industry (Johnson & Johnson) as a drug hunter, I have encountered many therapeutic targets and many clinical candidates. Under the old drug discovery paradigm of phenotypic assessment, I discovered TOPAMAX (topiramate), a billion-dollar drug for treating epilepsy and migraine headache. Its mechanisms of actions are diverse, but still not fully understood. Phenotypic assessment mainly involves pharmacological and cellular methodology, an approach which has become disfavored in the 21st century, given the wealth of receptor and enzyme molecular targets that have emerged, especially since the sequencing of the human genome. Nevertheless, phenotypic assessment still can have a valuable role to play for certain unmet medical needs.

Why Hawaii? Kona Coffee!  Cyndie Maryanoff.  Co-CEO and CTO at Absolute Palate®, Holicong, PA 18928

In 2015, Bruce and Cyndie Maryanoff established Absolute Palate® LLC (www.absolute- palate.com) as a coffee business on the Big Island of Hawaii. Thus, their long-standing passion for exceptional coffees and love of Hawaii were merged. A special interest in premium, single-estate 100% Kona coffee, led them to purchase two coffee farms in the iconic Kona Coffee Belt, which provide coffee fruit that is hand-picked, processed into green beans, and custom-roasted in small batches with a fluidized-bed air roaster. They assembled a laboratory for on-site decaffeination, thereby extracting green beans with supercritical carbon dioxide to furnish a flavorful 100% Kona decaf coffee (Absolute Decaf). Cyndie will discuss this coffee project and the organic chemistry that contributes to coffee’s special aroma and flavor.

Brief Biographical Information

Bruce Maryanoff received a BS and PhD at the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton.  He then embarked on a decades-long career in research and management with Johnson & Johnson.  He is currently a Visiting Investigator at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.  View biography 

Cynthia Maryanoff received a BS at Drexel University and a PhD at Princeton University.  She performed postdoctoral research at Princeton.  She joined Johnson & Johnson for a long career in research and management.  She is currently a Foundation Distinguished Professor at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute in Doylestown PA.  View biography 

Both Maryanoffs have extensive experience in drug discovery and management in the pharmaceutical industry.  They are long-term active participants and supporters of ACS activities.  They are founders of the Maryanoff Scholars – an annual program to assist undergraduate chemistry students in research in chemistry at Drexel University.  The Maryanoffs also founded Absolute Palate LLC, a coffee company specializing in single-estate 100% Kona coffee, with two coffee farms in Hawaii.

View more information on the SVACS website.

Co-hosted by the Department of Chemistry, Stanford University