| 1973 — 1977 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Chemistry of Highly Strained Rings and Novel Reaction Intermediates |
1 |
| 1974 — 1980 |
Eisner, Thomas [⬀]
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Chemical Ecology of Insects @ Cornell Univ - State: Awds Made Prior May 2010 |
0.934 |
| 1977 — 1980 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Novel Ring Systems of Theoretical and Practical Significance |
1 |
| 1981 — 1984 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Bio-Active Natural Products From China |
1 |
| 1985 — 2007 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
R01Activity Code Description:
To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Chemistry of Arthropod Secretions @ Cornell University Ithaca
DESCRIPTION: (provided by applicant) Insects and other arthropods make up over half of all described species on earth. Although the majority of these species have no immediate impact on human life, some are extremely important as disease vectors (i.e. tsetse fly, anopheline mosquitoes, triatomine bugs, ticks.), and some have developed into agricultural, forest, and household pests. Chemistry plays a central role in the interactions of insects with plants, with animal hosts, as well as with prey and predators. The aim of this project is to elucidate the chemistry underlying these interactions, based on a critical, biorational approach, in ways that should improve human health and welfare. For several hundreds of millions of years, plants and insects have been co-evolving. This interaction may be viewed as an extended biological war; the fact that much of the earth is still green bears witness to the effectiveness of plant defenses. Natural anti-feedants and repellents play important roles in plant defensive strategies. We hope to find new and potentially useful antiinsectan compounds based on our very recent discovery of secondary metabolites, which serve plants both as "nectar guides" and as anti-feeding agents. This project has the potential to reduce the agricultural use of conventional pesticides. In another project, we plan to screen a wide range of spider venoms for structurally novel neurotoxins. There are over 30,000 described species of spiders, and these ubiquitous predators are generally able to produce venoms which paralyze or kill their prey. We plan to use electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for the rapid analysis of a large number of previously unstudied spider venoms to search for novel structure types which may serve as lead compounds for new neuropharmacological agents. The discovery by an Israeli research group that female mosquitoes avoid egg laying in still water that is occupied by predatory Notonecta has exciting implications for mosquito control. The finding that this water is repellent even after the Notonecta have been removed suggests that a chemical cue is responsible for the inhibition of oviposition. We hope to characterize the responsible agents in collaboration with the Israeli group. We also plan a collaborative study of chemical communication in ticks, another important group of arthropodan disease vectors. We hope to pursue several other research problems dealing with insect chemistry. Our objectives are (I) to discover the chemical basis of important arthropod interactions, (2) to provide the basis for new control techniques which should be applicable to disease vectors and other pests, and (3) to discover new biologically active chemotypes which may serve as the starting points for synthetic projects leading to drug development or vector control.
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1 |
| 1986 — 1988 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
R01Activity Code Description:
To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Synthesis of Optically Pure Inhalation Anesthetics @ Cornell University Ithaca
The commonly used inhalant anesthetics halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane each contain a single chiral carbon atom and hence each exists as a 50/50 (racemic) mixture of enantiomers; all are administered clinically in racemic form. In fact, nothing is known about either the anesthetic activity or the toxicity of the pure enantiomers of these agents. Recent developments in anesthesia research suggest that specific, active site binding of anesthetic agents with membrane-bound proteins may play a role in the mechanism of anesthetic action. Direct interaction with enzyme binding sites is usually highly sensitive to substrate stereostructure. Thus, evaluation of the relative activity and toxicity of the enantiomers of commonly used inhalant anesthetics is of clinical, as well as theoretical, importance. We propose to develop synthetic methodology to provide each of the enantiomers of halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane in optically pure form, and in sufficient quantities for in vitro evaluation. A recently described firefly luciferase assay will be used in our initial study. Our synthetic approaches to halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane will utilize either resolution techniques, or synthetic reactions which proceed with optical induction.
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1 |
| 1992 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
R55Activity Code Description:
Undocumented code - click on the grant title for more information. |
Stereochemically Pure Anesthetics as Mechanistic Probes @ Cornell University Ithaca
This is a Shannon Award providing partial support for research projects that fall short of the assigned institute's funding range but are in the margin of excellence. The Shannon award is intended to provide support to test the feasibility of the approach; develop further tests and refine research techniques; perform secondary analysis of available data sets; or conduct discrete projects that can demonstrate the PI's research capabilities or lend additional weight to an already meritorious application. Further scientific data for the CRISP System are unavailable at this time.
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1 |
| 1992 — 1995 |
Attygalle, A
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
U.S.-Brazil Cooperative Research: Identification of Sex Attractant Pheromone of a Tomato Pest
This award from the U.S.-Brazil Cooperative Science Program supports research in chemistry to be conducted by Drs. Jerrold Meinwald and Athula B. Attygalle of Cornell University and Drs. Gulab N. Jham and Evaldo F. Vilela of the Universidade Federal de Vicosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The project will focus on finding an economically viable and environmentally acceptable method of control for the control of the moth, Scrobipalpuloides absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a serious pest on tomato Lycopersicon esculentum in Brazil and most other Latin American Countries. The project will use the collecting expertise of the Vicosa group to isolate the sex pheromone of the female S. absoluta, which is specific to the males of the same species. The Cornell group will fully characterize the active components of the pheromone and then synthesize quantities sufficient for use as baits in field trapping experiments in Brazil. The collecting and field testing capability of the Brazilian team coupled with the analytical and synthetic expertise of the US group combine to form a project not possible for either group working alone.
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1 |
| 1993 — 1997 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Biosynthesis of Insect Defensive Secretions
Deuterium labeled potential biosynthetic precursors will be prepared for a study of the mechanism of defensive carboxylic acid biosynthesis in carabid beetles. These precursors will include specifically labeled examples of a number of amino acids, such as L-valine, L-isoleucine, and L-leucine. Exploratory studies are also planned on the biosynthesis of the azamacrolides and related beetle-produced alkaloids. %%% This research on the defensive chemistry of insects should make significant contributions to our understanding of both biosynthesis and chemical diversity. The phyletic dominance of insects on earth is at least in part related to their "skill" in synthesizing a variety of highly effective defensive chemicals. Knowledge of how these chemicals are produced should give insights into insect chemistry, which may in turn have practical implications, and also reveal some new aspects of fundamentally important biochemical mechanisms.
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1 |
| 1993 — 1998 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
U01Activity Code Description:
To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Chemical Prospecting in a Costa Rican Conservation Area @ Cornell University Ithaca
This application describes an International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) directed toward drug discovery based on natural products obtained via the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) from the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica. One specific aim is to introduce tropical insects and related arthropods into the process of drug search and development. While insects are well known to utilize a wide variety of secondary metabolites as defensive agents, venoms, and pheromones, they have received much less attention than plants, microbes, or marine organisms as potential sources of useful pharmaceutical agents. The INBio Associate Program will coordinate the collection of biological materials, will create a group of in-country scientists and paraprofessionals to conduct the collecting (as well as to pursue ecological and systematic studies), will prepare extracts from biological materials, and will carry out an anti-malarial screening program. INBio's activities will also contribute to the national biodiversity inventory, and establish a system of biodiversity information management and distribution. The Cornell Associate Program will coordinate the ICBG's activities. It will also pursue the chemical characterization and synthesis of selected natural products which appear especially interesting on the basis of ecological leads, and will train Costa Rican researchers in chemical characterization, bioassay development, and basic field and laboratory disciplines related to "chemical prospecting". The third Associate Program, to be carried out by the Pharmaceutical Research and Development Division of Bristol-Myers Squibb, will receive the bulk of the extracts prepared at INBio, and will carry out screening over a broad range of biological activities, including a search for anticancer, anti-infective, cardiovascular, CNS, and dermatological activities. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a long history of drug developing, and has a thoroughly modern system of screens and predictive models.
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1 |
| 1994 — 1997 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
The Language of Chemistry: Introductory Chemistry Based On the Study of Problems At the Interface Between Chemistry Andbiology
9354452 Meinwald There is a need to increase the scientific literacy of college students in the USA. This proposal involves the development of a new introductory course, The Language of Chemistry, intended primarily for students who are not committed to a major in chemistry. The immediate challenge is to provide an attractive course which students from areas such as the social sciences and the humanities will elect to help fulfill a "distribution" requirement. The proposed course will illustrate how chemists study problems involving chemical interactions in nature. Among the cases likely to be included for study are (1) the chemistry of gamete attractants; (2) the female pheromone of the silkworm moth; (3) quinine, antimalarials, and synthetic dyes; (4) penicillin; and (5) taxol. Basic concepts in general chemistry and organic chemistry will be developed as they are required for the understanding of this set of particularly interesting problems at the interface between chemistry and biology or medicine. The methods of analyzing problems will be emphasized, rather than the memorization of specific results or formulas. Students should gain an understanding of subjects as diverse as: chromatography and other purification techniques, spectroscopy, molecular formulas, molecular structures (and how chemical and physical methods establish them), stereochemistry, atomic structure, the periodic table, chemical bonding, functional groups, Avogadro's number, and why synthesis is important. There will be an opportunity for students, working in small groups, to prepare and present short reports on chemical topics, based on library research. The project will work with colleagues in the science education department on course development and evaluation. Course related materials will also be generated. ***y
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1 |
| 2004 — 2006 |
Meinwald, Jerrold
Savitzky, Alan [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Sger: Sequestration of Dietary Toxins in Toad- and Mollusk-Eating Snakes @ Old Dominion University Research Foundation
Many animals employ toxic or distasteful chemicals as a defense against predators. Such chemicals may either be synthesized from nontoxic molecules or obtained directly from the animal's diet and sequestered in the tissues. Sequestered defensive compounds (SDCs) have been documented in many invertebrates. Herbivorous insects often sequester toxic molecules from host plants, thereby becoming distasteful themselves. In contrast, SDCs have been reported rarely from vertebrate animals. The only known cases involve a few groups of specialized ant-eating frogs, such as poison dart frogs, that store potent toxins obtained from their prey. However, recent evidence suggests that other specialized vertebrate predators sequester defensive toxins from their diets. The investigators will explore the evidence for sequestration, and its physiological consequences, in two such groups, snakes that consume toads and snakes that feed on slugs. This project will be the first to study toxin sequestration in any amniote vertebrate (reptile, bird, or mammal) and the first to study sequestered toxins derived from vertebrate prey (toads). Toxin sequestration has important implications for behavior, community ecology, and conservation biology. Ecologically, SDCs link species across three trophic levels; the protection an individual enjoys against its own predators depends upon chemicals obtained from its prey. Therefore, if its natural prey becomes rare or extinct (as with the current decline in amphibian populations), a predator that relies upon SDCs can no longer acquire essential defensive chemicals. This study also has implications for understanding the physiological mechanisms underlying certain human cardiovascular disorders. Hypertension and related conditions have been linked to compounds that are chemically similar to toad toxins and are stored in the adrenal glands of mammals. Curiously, toad-eating snakes exhibit greatly enlarged adrenal glands, but the relationship between those glands and the snakes' diet has not been investigated further. The investigators will determine whether these specialized snakes sequester prey toxins and, if so, how they tolerate high levels of such normally debilitating compounds. Comparisons of the chemistry, physiology, and anatomy of toxin-consuming snakes will be made to the conditions in generalized species that consume nontoxic prey. Chromatographic and spectroscopic methods will be used to analyze tissues from these snakes to determine whether prey toxins accumulate or are simply detoxified and eliminated by them. Second, the impact of prey toxins on snake physiology will be determined by comparing the effect of toxic prey on locomotor speed and stamina in specialized versus generalized predators. Third, electrocardiography will be used to investigate the effect of toad toxins on heart function in toad-eating specialists. Toad toxins normally have an adverse effect on heart muscle, yet toad-eating snakes must withstand high concentrations of those toxins. Finally, the investigators will examine the fine structure of the adrenal glands in snakes that specialize on toxic prey to determine which tissues within that complex gland are enlarged. Those results will provide clues to mechanisms underlying tolerance of toxins and will assist in understanding mammalian cardiovascular responses to similar compounds. These integrated studies will reveal whether these specialized vertebrate predators sequester prey toxins for defense, and how they tolerate such normally dangerous compounds.
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0.957 |
| 2005 — 2008 |
Meinwald, Jerrold
Abruna, Hector
Coates, Geoffrey (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description:
No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mri: Acquisition of a High-Resolution Bench-Top Mass Spectrometer For Research and Education
With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, the Department of Chemistry at Cornell University will acquire a high-resolution bench-top gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC/MS). This new spectrometer will allow a core of NSF-funded researchers to carry out research in: a) elucidating the chemical mechanisms underlying hydrocarbon combustion; b) the role of nonstatistical dynamics in the behavior of reactive intermediates; c) fixation of atmospheric nitrogen into value-added products; d) finding surrogates for precious metals in the synthesis of complex molecular targets; e) developing new synthetic strategies for producing polymeric materials of defined molecular structure; f) structural and mechanistic studies of organolithium reagents; g) discovery of novel natural products from insect pathogenic fungi, plant pathogenic bacteria, and higher plants; h) site-isolated catalysis; i) isolation and characterization of biologically significant arthropod natural products; j) developing new, operationally simple, and flexible synthetic methods, which are compatible with complex chemical syntheses. A large group of other researchers from across the campus will also use the requested spectrometer in research projects involving bioorganic chemistry, chemical ecology, carbohydrate chemistry, lipid membranes, materials science, and organic/organometallic synthesis. In short, the requested spectrometer will allow many researchers to characterize naturally occurring or newly created substances, to determine the molecular mass of molecules or molecular fragments, and determine the composition of materials.
Gas chromatograph with mass spectrometric detection (GC/MS) is an extremely powerful technique used for the separation and analysis of complex mixtures. The results from studies using the requested spectrometer will have an impact on organic/organometallic chemistry, polymer chemistry, chemical biology, natural product chemistry, catalysis, and materials chemistry. .
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1 |
| 2007 |
Meinwald, Jerrold |
P41Activity Code Description:
Undocumented code - click on the grant title for more information. |
Arthropod-Based Libraries For High Throughput Screening @ Cornell University Ithaca
[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the past four decades, we have been studying the chemistry of defense and communication among terrestrial insects and other arthropods, a group of organisms that includes over half of all described species on earth. While many of the compounds we have characterized have simple structures (such as straight chain alkenes, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, phenols, benzoquinones), there are also many examples of biologically active alkaloids, isoprenoids (including steroids), and polypeptides with novel structures which we have discovered in the course of this research. We plan to select approximately ten of the most interesting structures and to prepare pilot-scale libraries consisting of the natural product itself plus -5-30 related structures in quantities suitable for high throughput screening. This project is the culmination, from the viewpoint of drug discovery, of our many years of research in the field of natural products chemistry. ds and proposed derivatives generally represent molecular structures that have not yet been examined via high throughput screening. The likelihood of discovering activities within these libraries of relevance to areas such as neuron-pharmacology, infectious and parasitic diseases, or cancer is much greater than would be expected from a study of other areas of chemical space which are not based on small molecules of biological origin. 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