2013-03-27: Dinner Meeting with Dr. Sarah Reisman of Caltech

Abstract: The overarching goal of our laboratory is to discover, develop, and study new chemical reactions within the context of natural product total synthesis. In addition to providing opportunities for biological collaborations, our synthetic undertakings serve to drive innovation in, and deepen our fundamental understanding of, organic and organometallic chemistry. Our laboratory has an ongoing research program targeting the chemical synthesis of several related redox active, sulfur-containing natural products that exhibit promising anticancer activity. The densely packed arrays of heteroatoms and stereogenic centers that constitute these polycyclic targets challenge the limits of current synthetic methodology. This seminar will describe our latest progress in both our methodological and target-directed synthesis endeavors.

Biography: Sarah E. Reisman was born and raised in Bar Harbor, Maine. She was an undergraduate student at Connecticut College in New London, CT, where she developed a passion for organic synthesis working in the laboratory of Prof. Timo Ovaska, and graduated with honors in 2001. In the fall of that year, Sarah enrolled in graduate studies at Yale University and joined the research group of Prof. John Wood. She earned her Ph.D. in chemistry in 2006; her thesis detailed the total synthesis of the natural product welwitindolinone A isonitrile. For her postdoctoral work, Sarah pursued studies in the field of asymmetric catalysis as an NIH fellow, working with Prof. Eric Jacobsen at Harvard University. In 2008, Sarah joined the faculty at the California Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of Chemistry. The overarching goal of her research is to discover, develop, and study new chemical reactions within the context of natural product total synthesis. Sarah is the recent recipient of several honors and awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Cottrell Scholar award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, the Amgen Young Investigator award, the Novartis Early Career award, the Arthur C. Cope Scholar award, and the ACS Women’s Chemist Committee Rising Star award.

Reservations: There is a choice of Stuffed Chicken (stuffed with Goat Cheese, Spinach and Walnuts with a Mushroom Dry Sherry Demi-Glaze) or Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs for dinner. The cost of the dinner is $33 per person including tax, tip, and wine with dinner; cash or check at the door. Please call Nancy Paradiso in the Section Office at 310 327-1216 or email office@scalacs.org by Monday, March 25, 2013 for reservations.

Directions: You can find an interactive Mapquest map at http://www.beckhamgrill.com/Location.html