Organic Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Chi Pan Ting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Organic Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Chi Pan Ting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date
Thu December 5th 2019, 4:30 - 5:30pm
Location
Sapp Center Lecture Hall

Organic Chemistry Seminar: Dr. Chi Pan Ting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Host: Noah Burns)

About the Talk

"Total Synthesis of Complex Meroterpenes and the Biosynthesis of Amino Acid-Derived Natural Products"

Natural products and derivatives thereof have historically been a valuable source of new medicine. Research in chemical synthesis and biosynthesis continue to identify new methods to obtain and modify natural products. In the first part of this seminar, concise total syntheses of complex bioactive meroterpenes will be presented. Emphasis will be placed on synthetic strategies that adheres to the philosophies of step and redox economy. 

While traditional isolation methods have resulted in the discovery of numerous bioactive natural products in the past, frequent rediscovery of previously known compounds remains a major problem. Genome mining emerges as a complementary method for the discovery of new natural products which involves identification of the genomic sequence that encodes their biosynthesis. The second part of this seminar will disclose the discovery of a new natural product by genome mining, and the discovery of a new biosynthetic paradigm for non-proteogenic amino acids.

About the Speaker

Chi Ting was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He received a B.S. degree in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, where he worked under the direction of Prof. Steven Zimmerman. In 2012, he began doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley working with Prof. Tom Maimone as a founding member of the Maimone research group. At Berkeley, Chi completed total syntheses of podophyllotoxin, hyperforin, berkeleyone A, and garsubellin A. In 2017, he returned to the University of Illinois for postdoctoral studies in biochemistry. After joining the van der Donk lab, he has been working on the elucidation of the biosynthesis of amino acid-derived natural products. He is a recipient of the NSF predoctoral fellowship, the Bristol-Myers Squibb graduate fellowship, and the NIH postdoctoral fellowship.