Message from the Division Chair, F. Peter Guengerich

First of all, I would like to congratulate the newly elected officers of the Division. I look forward to working with all of them in the second year of my term as Chair. During the next year, I will be working with Lisa Peterson, our Chair-elect, to be sure that next year there is a smooth transition. I want to also thank all those individuals who were willing to run for election but were not elected. The Division's health is really dependent on the participation of its members. I also thank last year's Nominating Committee (Lisa Peterson, Judy Bolton, & Nick Geacintov) for their work.

During the remainder of this calendar year, I will be reorganizing our committees and contacting individuals about serving. I would welcome any volunteers or suggestions. Some of the individuals who have been on these committees are now holding offices. We would like to have broad representation with regard to backgrounds, experience, and interests on our committees.

Kent Gates and the Program Committee are working on the August 2008 national meeting in Philadelphia (17-20), and I think we have an exciting program lined up. Be thinking about bringing students and postdocs to present their work. See the rest of the newsletter. Nick Meanwell and I just finished lining up our annual joint symposium with the Division of Medicinal Chemistry, which will be dealing with issues of enzyme inhibition and induction in drug development. We would appreciate any input on the issue I posed earlier of making our ACS National Meeting posters available to the membership on a website (optional participation and controlled access by Division members). There are issues about subsequent publication with some ACS journals but not Chemical Research in Toxicology.

The Short Course Committee is working toward having a course or mixture of courses that will both provide a stream of income for the Division and be of service to our membership and the pharmaceutical industry. The Finance and Development Committee seeks your input into ways of generating other revenue to enhance our programs in the Division. There are many things we could do if we did not have to be concerned with costs.

Although Chemical Research in Toxicology is not strictly connected to this Division, there is a strong relationship. I call your attention to two special issues, November 2007 and January 2008. The first is a salute to my colleague and long-term Editor-in-Chief, Larry Marnett, and the second is a journal 20th anniversary set of reviews of key areas in chemical toxicology.

During the past year as Division chair I have been impressed with the loyalty and enthusiasm that Division members have. I think our Division is solid but we need the continued efforts of all to keep it moving.

Have a great holiday season and a successful 2008!

Fred Guengerich

Division Election Results

Peterson Selected Chair-Elect

Prof. Lisa Peterson, University of Minnesota, was elected Chair Elect. For many years, Lisa has been extensively involved in Division activities. She helped craft the Bylaws and has served in many other capacities. She takes over the Chair-Elect position in January. She will be the Division Chair during the years 2009-2010. Please see the article about her and an interview below.

Tom Spratt Chosen as Division Secretary

Professor Thomas Spratt of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine will take over as Secretary of the Division on January 1st of 2008. Tom has previously served the division in several capacities including being its Webmaster. He received his B.A. in chemistry at the University of Rochester and obtained his Ph. D. at the University of Chicago under E.T. Kaiser. After pursuing post doctoral work with Heinz Floss at Ohio State, he went on to be a research scientist at the American Health Foundation. He moved in 2004 to his current position as a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Hershey, PA. He takes over the position of Secretary from Jim Fishbein who has served the Division during the past two years.

Rizzo Elected to Replace Marnett

Carmelo Rizzo, Prof. of Chemistry and of Biochemistry has been elected by the Division to replace Prof. Larry Marnett as Treasurer of the Division. Marnett has served since in this capacity since the beginning of the Division. Dr. Rizzo received B.A. degree in chemistry from Temple University and then went on to get his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania under Amos Smith. He assumed a position in the Chemistry Department at Vanderbilt in 1992 where he has built a strong record of research accomplishments and synthetic organic chemistry. Rizzo will begin his term as Treasurer in 2008.

Councilor Positions Go to Henderson and Bryant-Friedrich

Prof. Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, Department of the Medicinal Chemistry, University of Toledo, and Dr. Paul Henderson of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories have been elected to serve as councilors for the next two years. Henderson has previously served as Alternate Councilor. Drs. Greg Thatcher and Anatoly Zhitkovich. will served as Alternate Councilors.

Nominations Committee

Judy Bolton, Paul Hollenberg, and Larry Keefer have been elected to be members of the Nominating Committee for 2008. Dr. Bolton is chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at University of Illinois, Chicago. Dr. Hollenberg is Chair of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Keefer is Chief of Laboratory for Comparative Carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick Maryland.

Executive Committee

Shana Sturla was elected to serve on the Executive Committee as a member at large for the 2008 2009. Dr. Sturla is a professor of Medicinal Chemistry at University of Minnesota. Griff Humphreys was elected to be a at large member of the Executive Committee from 2008 to 2010. Dr. Humphreys is a scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb.

An Interview with Lisa Peterson, Chair-Elect

Editor's note: Prof. Lisa Peterson was just elected to the position of Chair-Elect. She has been heavily engaged in the activities of the Division of Chemical Toxicology since its inception. Her election to the position of Chair represents a benchmark for the Division. She will be the first female Chair. Some biographical information about Lisa is presented in the paragraph below. She graciously agreed to be interviewed for the Newsletter. Excerpts from that interview follow the biographical sketch.

A brief biography:

Lisa is a native Minnesotan. She received a B.A. (summa cum laude) in Chemistry from Macalester College in 1981, and her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry under Neal Castagnoli at UCSF in 1985. She was a Postdoctoral Associate in Fred Guengerich's lab at Vanderbilt from 1985-1988. She then joined the group at the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, NY as a research scientist and remained there working in tobacco carcinogenesis until 1997 when she moved to the University of Minnesota to take up her current position as a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Science in the School of Public Health. She also holds an appointment at the Cancer Center and her office and laboratories are located in that facility at the University. She lists her research interests as: Mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis through the utilization of bio-organic and analytical chemical techniques; xenobiotic metabolism; characterization of unstable metabolic intermediates; and DNA repair. Lisa has worked closely on scientific projects with two former Division Chairs, Neal Castagnoli and Stephen Hecht, as well as our current Chair Fred Guengerich. She has been elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. During the 2005-2006 academic year, she was a Visiting Scientist, at the Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, at the Heinrich Heine University, in Düsseldorf, Germany. Dr. Peterson teaches courses in drug and xenobiotic metabolism and toxicology. She has served as Treasurer of ISSX. She is married to an industrial chemist and they have two teenage children.

The Interview:

Editor: How did you get interested in science and chemistry?

Lisa Peterson: I guess I've always been interested in science. As a kid I was always doing some kind of experiment. My science classes were my favorites. And my parents didn't discourage that, in fact, they encouraged it. My teachers also encouraged me.

Editor: Did you think this was unusual for a girl?

Lisa Peterson:No I never did. Not until much later.

Editor: Did you have many women in your chemistry classes at Macalester?

Lisa Peterson: I don't remember ever thinking that there was a disparity. I was in a relatively small class at Macalester and I think that about 50% of them were women. I first realized this might be unusual when I went to meetings in graduate school and looked around and didn't see many women.

Editor: Why did you decide to work in medicinal chemistry? Did that come out of thesis work at Macalester or were you influenced by a particular professor there?

Lisa Peterson: There were probably a couple of things that influenced me. I had two research experiences as an undergrad student. One of them was in the lab of Norm Sladek in the Pharmacology Department at the University of Minnesota. The other was a synthetic organic chemistry project with Janet Carlson at Macalester. As a kid, I first thought I wanted to be a horticulturalist. That was before I had any biology or chemistry classes. After that, I got interested in both biology and chemistry. Then I had these great research experiences. The pharmacology project involved testing chemicals that protected against cyclophosphamide toxicity. I really like it. But, I also really liked organic chemistry. I enjoyed the synthetic project with Dr. Carlson at Macalester. She also taught a senior studies course that looked at drug design, chemical carcinogenesis, and other topics. I liked the idea of working at the interface between biology and chemistry. I also was encouraged to go on to graduate school and, in particular, to pursue a doctorate. Medicinal chemistry seemed to combine my interest in chemistry and biology. I was encouraged by Dr. Carlson to get out of Minnesota and ended up at UCSF.

Editor: It sounds like this Dr. Carlson had a big impact on you.

Lisa Peterson: Yes, that's right she did. My advisor, Kathleen Parsons did too. She taught our biochemistry class.

Editor: How did you get into mechanistic toxicology?

Lisa Peterson: There were two professors whose work really interested me. One of them had projects involving the mechanisms of P450 action. But I was really intrigued by Neal Castagnoli's research. He offered me a project which involved the determination of the stereochemistry of hydrogen abstraction from nicotine during its bio-oxidation. I was working on that project when it was found that the illicit drug contaminant MTTP produced Parkinson's-like symptoms in humans. So I worked on that too. It was pretty exciting. I was a part of the team that worked out the metabolic pathway, and that really sold me on the value of this kind of mechanistic toxicological research. I also had a metabolism class that was really good. We looked at a variety of aspects including chemical carcinogenesis. In fact, I did my paper in that course on nitrosamines.

Editor: How did you happen to go to Vanderbilt to do a post doctoral work with Fred Guengerich?

Lisa Peterson: I had several opportunities but I was impressed with the interdisciplinary nature of the research in his lab and the fact that I could still do chemistry. I was also interested in learning more about toxicology. It was a good decision because I really liked the project, and even though I was doing chemistry I got exposed to all of kinds of molecular biological methods and techniques through group meetings and in my talks with other colleagues. Overall both Fred Guengerich and Neal Castagnoli have been very helpful to me throughout my career. They have both given me lots of good advice and help.

Editor: So then Lisa, you took your first professional position at the American Health Foundation and then moved on to your academic position at the University of Minnesota. How do you compare those experiences?

Lisa Peterson: There were really a lot of things that I liked about working at the American Health Foundation. It was probably the best place in the world to learn about and do research in tobacco carcinogenesis. For a small place, they had excellent facilities. In addition to good equipment to support research in chemistry they also had a fantastic animal facility and a supporting in vitro toxicology lab. I miss those support facilities here at Minnesota; we have to work much more independently, of course. But, here in the University there's a much greater diversity of thought and research that is very stimulating. The university environment really creates cross fertilization of ideas, which I think is very important in research. We also have fantastic mass spectrometry facilities and other instruments to support research. You just can't get this type of instrumental support in a small research institute. I like the teaching too, but there's a part of me that really misses the time when all I had to concern myself with was research.

Editor: At this point in your life do you feel affirmed with respect to your choice of science as a career and do you still really like it?

Lisa Peterson: Yes. I really like it. When I wake up in the morning, I am excited about coming into work.

Editor: So Lisa let's move on to the Division of Chemical Toxicology. You've been involved from the very beginning and made great contributions. How do you think the Division is doing?

Lisa Peterson: I think it is doing pretty good! We are growing and that is a sign that we are attractive to a lot of people. (Referring to Division meetings and programming:) There are signs that this is a meeting that industry is going to for recruiting purposes. It shows that we are training good people, and that this is a place that draws in the best science in chemical toxicology.

Editor: What will be your goals as Division Chair?

Lisa Peterson: I think we have to continue looking at the financial situation of the division. I think we have to continue the strong programming that we have done. I would like to see us expand into areas of toxicology that are somewhat underrepresented. I think we need to continue our programming in the areas of the new and expanding technologies that are developing in the field even though some of these programs are not always very well attended. An example is systems toxicology and related issues. I think the chemists need to learn how to use these tools, and that the people who develop and propagate this methodology need to be informed of the chemistry, as well. It is important to keep chemistry in the center of this, and the focus should go beyond just one chemical, one protein etc. It is important for the division to keep this programming going.

Editor: You have been involved both in the Division of Chemical Toxicology and the International Society for the study of Xenobiotics, ISSX. Many of our members belong to both of these organizations. You have been the Treasurer of ISSX. Do you see ways that these two organizations can work together?

Lisa Peterson: Of course! We had that program several years ago that was a great success for both organizations. I think we should explore new ways of cooperating. Even though I am not a member of SOT (Society of Toxicology) there may be opportunities for us there as well. I also think that our recent interactions with the AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) have been good and are important. I think the division is really strong in chemical carcinogenesis. But I would like to see the division develop more areas of strength outside of this. I also think that working with other divisions in the ACS, and also with outside organizations that have common interests, is very important.

Editor: Is there anything else you would like to say?

Lisa Peterson: I would really like to have people contact me and tell me how they think we can serve them better and make the division stronger.

Philadelphia Program Preview

The Division will not program at the New Orleans meeting. Division Program Chair, Kent Gates has provided the following preview of the program for the Philadelphia National ACS meeting, August 17-21, 2008.

• Chemical Biology of Epigenetics (Natalia Tretyakova, Organizer)

• Cytochrome P450 Structure, Function, and Mechanism (Fred Guengerich, Organizer)

• Drug Safety and Toxicity (Joint with Div Med Chem - Nick Meanwell and Fred Guengerich, Organizers)

• Environmental and Human Health Impacts of Nanomaterials (Agnes Kane and Robert Hurt, Organizers)

• Structural Biology of DNA Damage and Repair (Michael Stone, Organizer).

• Founders Award Symposium - (Awardee to be named by Founder's Award Selection Committee)

• General Papers - Young Investigator Session

• General Papers

• General Posters

Chemical Toxicology Jobs

Check our web site for Chemical Toxicology Jobs. This is a free service of the Division. Please email Tom Spratt to place an ad.