Victor J. Hruby
Professor
University of Arizona
USA
Biography
Dr. Victor J. Hruby is a Regents Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arizona. He received his PhD at Cornell University in Theoretical Organic Chemistry and did a Postdoctoral studies with Nobel Laureate Vincent du Vigneaud. He has been a professor at University of Arizona since 1968 where he has joint appointments in the Neuroscience Program, Medical Pharmacology, and Bio5 among others. Dr. Hruby’s research interests are in the chemistry, biophysics, molecular pharmacology, molecular biology of peptide hormones and neurotransmitters and their receptors, transduction systems and in the design, synthesis and bio evaluation of novel ligands for the treatment of degenerative diseases.
Research Interest
Professor Hruby’s research has been primarily in the chemistry, conformation-biological activity relationships, molecular mechanisms of information transduction and of molecular diseases associated with peptide hormones and neurotransmitters and their receptors that modulate health, disease and human behavior. Specific methods and approaches used in this research include: de novo design of biologically active peptides and peptidomimetics; peptide and peptidomimetic synthesis; asymmetric synthesis; design and asymmetric synthesis of novel amino acids; computational chemistry; conformational analysis using NMR, X-ray crystallography and other biophysical tools; combinatorial chemistry; conformation-biological activity relationships; the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of peptide and peptide mimetic ligands that affect pain, addictions, feeding behaviors, pigmentation, sexual behavior and motivation, glucose homeostasis, cancer and other biological effects; peptide mimetic design; and the structure-function of G-protein coupled receptors. The Hruby group also is developing new synthetic methodologies for the assembly of multimeric ligands for the detection and treatment of pain, cancer and other diseases; a new approach to design of ligands for disease states involving the concept of overlapping pharmacophores to address several receptors simultaneously in a single molecular ligand. Professor Hruby has published over 1000 articles, reviews, chapters, commentaries and editorials and has over 25 patents and patent filings. Victor Hruby has received numerous awards and honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1984), the Alan E. Pierce Award (now the Merrifield Award) (1993), a Senior Humboldt Fellowship (1999-2000), the American Chemical Society Ralph F. Hirschmann Award (2002), the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2009), the Murray Goodman Award (2011), the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame (2012) and the Meienhofer Award (2012).