Gains insights key to drug synthesis
Chemist David L. Van Vranken of Irvine, Calif., will be honored on August 22 by the world's largest scientific society for his innovative studies of proteins and their reactions in the body. He will receive the 2000 Arthur C. Cope Scholar award from the American Chemical Society at its 220th national meeting in Washington, D.C.
Van Vranken, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, describes himself as "a molecular engineer." He says, "I develop the tools and techniques with which to construct molecules." For inspiration, he particularly studies proteins because "nature is so creative."
One project is to discover what Van Vranken calls "natural patterns of protein reactivity"- predictable changes that proteins in the body can undergo as they age or when exposed to common reactants such as acids, oxygen and light. Researchers have used his fundamental insights to design and synthesize drugs.
"Proteins in the body are very precise machines," he explained. "Most proteins are rapidly turned over, but others like collagen and elastin in the skin and lens proteins in the eye are around for decades. They accumulate damage over time -skin wrinkles, joints get stiffer. If we understand the reactions that cause the damage, we may be able to do something about it."
Small proteins, or peptides, containing a building block called tryptophan have proven interesting in an unexpected way, Van Vranken said. As one of the most reactive of the 20 protein building blocks, or amino acids, tryptophan will crosslink with itself within a peptide. It will also react with sugar molecules.
Van Vranken realized that tryptophan's structural features were remarkably similar to those of compounds now in cancer trials. He and his research team were able to develop new ways to make related and more complex drugs.
"We weren't looking for that originally," Van Vranken pointed out. "It just came from recognizing the patterns of reactivity."
The ACS Board of Directors established the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award in 1984 to recognize and encourage excellence in organic chemistry. Cope was a celebrated chemist and former chairman of ACS. The award consists of $5,000, a certificate and a $40,000 unrestricted research grant.
A nonprofit organization with a membership of 161,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.