Jetze J. Tepe
Professor
Michigan State University
USA
Biography
Prof. Tepe recieved his PhD from the University of Virginia in 1998 with Prof. T.L. Macdonald and completed his post-doctoral studies with Prof. R.M. Williams at Colorado State University in 2000. Research in his lab is primarily focused on the synthesis and use of natural products and their analogues to interrogate proteasome-mediated signaling pathways. Using the new synthetic methods, drug-like derivatives of natural products are prepared and interrogated for their clinical significance in vitro, cell culture and animal models. For his academic drug discovery efforts aimed at multiple myeloma, he received the American Cancer Research Scholar award, Senior Award from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in 2008, and Multiple Myeloma senior award in 2010, and the International Myeloma Senior Award in 2013.
Research Interest
His research program provides an interdisciplinary blend of synthetic and medicinal chemistry that includes the total synthesis of natural products, the discovery of new reactions, as well as the evaluation for their cellular mechanism and medicinal properties. Natural products are still the primary source for medicines, and marine sponge metabolites represent a highly diverse and complex class of natural products with remarkable biological activities. Our laboratory is focused on the total synthesis of marine sponge alkaloids, to examine their potent anti-cancer and anti-neurodegenerative properties.