William F. DeGrado, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA, has received the 2017 Murray Goodman Memorial Prize in recognition of his seminal contributions to the de novo design of peptides, proteins, and pharmaceutically active small molecules. The award was presented at a symposium in association with the Division of Biological Chemistry (BIOL) of the American Chemical Society at the 255th ACS National Meeting & Exposition in New Orleans, LA, USA, on March 19, 2017.
The award acknowledges outstanding accomplishments in one or more of the areas of biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, biophysics, or chemical biology. It was first presented in 2007 in honor of the Biopolymers Founding Editor.
William DeGrado studied chemistry at North Central College, Naperville, IL, USA, Kalamazoo College, MI, USA, and at the University of Chicago, IL, USA, where he received his Ph.D. in 1981. He was a Research Chemist at DuPont from 1981 to 1990 and then held different positions in research at DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company until 1995. In 1996, DeGrado became Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA. He was Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011 and since 2011, DeGrado is Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of UCSF and Investigator at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute. His research focuses on small molecule and protein design with the aim to improve the understanding of macromolecule structure and function.
Among other honors, DeGrado has received the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry in 1992, the DuPont Merck Summit Award in 1993, the Merrifield Award from the Peptide Society in 2003, and the Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2008.
Selected Publications
- Structural heterogeneity and intersubject variability of Aβ in familial and sporadic Alzheimer’s disease,
Carlo Condello, Thomas Lemmin, Jan Stöhr, Mimi Nick, Yibing Wu, Alison M. Maxwell, Joel C. Watts, Christoffer D. Caro, Abby Oehler, C. Dirk Keene, Thomas D. Bird, Sjoerd G. van Duinen, Lars Lannfelt, Martin Ingelsson, Caroline Graff, Kurt Giles, William F. DeGrado, Stanley B. Prusiner,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, USA 2018, 115, E782–E791.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714966115 - De Novo Design of Tetranuclear Transition Metal Clusters Stabilized by Hydrogen-Bonded Networks in Helical Bundles,
Shao-Qing Zhang, Marco Chino, Lijun Liu, Youzhi Tang, Xiaozhen Hu, William F. DeGrado, Angela Lombardi,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 1294–1304.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b08261 - Spontaneous and specific chemical cross-linking in live cells to capture and identify protein interactions,
Bing Yang, Shibing Tang, Cheng Ma, Shang-Tong Li, Guang-Can Shao, Bobo Dang, William F. DeGrado, Meng-Qiu Dong, Peng George Wang, Sheng Ding, Lei Wang,
Nat. Commun. 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02409-z - Design of a Three-Helix Bundle Capable of Binding Heavy Metals in a Triscysteine Environment,
Saumen Chakraborty, Joslyn Yudenfreund Kravitz, Peter W. Thulstrup, Lars Hemmingsen, William F. DeGrado, Vincent L. Pecoraro,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 2049–2053.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201006413 - Structure of the amantadine binding site of influenza M2 proton channels in lipid bilayers,
Sarah D. Cady, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, Jun Wang, Cinque S. Soto, William F. DeGrado, Mei Hong,
Nature 2010, 463, 689–692.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08722 - Role of the Conformational Rigidity in the Design of Biomimetic Antimicrobial Compounds,
Andrey Ivankin, Liran Livne, Amram Mor, Gregory A. Caputo, William F. DeGrado, Mati Meron, Binhua Lin, David Gidalevitz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 8462–8465.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201003104 - The Role of Hydrophobicity in the Antimicrobial and Hemolytic Activities of Polymethacrylate Derivatives,
Kenichi Kuroda, Gregory A. Caputo, William F. DeGrado,
Chem. Eur. J. 2009, 15, 1123–1133.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.200801523 - Structural basis for the function and inhibition of an influenza virus proton channel,
Amanda L. Stouffer, Rudresh Acharya, David Salom, Anna S. Levine, Luigi Di Costanzo, Cinque S. Soto, Valentina Tereshko, Vikas Nanda, Steven Stayrook, William F. DeGrado,
Nature 2008, 451, 596–599.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06528 - Foldamers as versatile frameworks for the design and evolution of function,
Catherine M. Goodman, Sungwook Choi, Scott Shandler, William F. DeGrado,
Nat. Chem. Biol. 2007, 3, 252–262.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio876
More from the 255th ACS National Meeting
- Event: 255th ACS National Meeting & Exposition,
18 to 22 March 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. - Priestley Medal 2018 for Geraldine Richmond,
Highest honor of the American Chemical Society (ACS) presented to researcher at the University of Oregon, USA - Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success 2018,
Javier García-Martínez, Rive Technology Inc., Boston, MA, USA, recognized as outstanding entrepreneur,
