Johns Hopkins Researcher Explores Fatty Acids, Cancer November 18

Salisbury, MD---Is there a link between fatty acids and diseases such as cancer, obesity and tuberculosis?

Dr. Craig A. Townsend of Johns Hopkins University explores new research on the inhibition of enzymes to treat these conditions on Tuesday, November 18, at Salisbury University.  His talk “How Fatty Acid Synthase Inhibition has led to Therapeutic Approaches to Cancer, Obesity and Tuberculosis” is 4:15 p.m. in Henson Hall, Room 243.

A recipient of the Maryland Chemist of the Year award, Townsend earned his B.A. with Honors in chemistry from Williams College and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University.  He was an International Exchange Postdoctoral Fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation at ETH, a science and technology university in Zürich.

He joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1976 and is the Alsoph H. Corwin Professor of Chemistry and a member of the Departments of Biology and Biophysics.  His research interests include biosynthesis and chemistry of natural products; studies of enzyme action; drug design; small molecule DNA interactions; enzymology and molecular biology of secondary metabolism; and the clinical applications of fatty acid synthesis inhibition.

Townsend has received the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society, and has been a Research Fellow of the A. P. Sloan Foundation and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.  He was co-founder of the Bioorganic Chemistry Gordon Conference and currently serves on the governing Council of the Gordon Research Conferences, and has advised the Office of Technology Assessment, the American Chemical Society and the National Institutes of Health.

Sponsored by the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology, the talk is free and the public is invited.  Prior to the lecture, an informal “Meet the Speaker” session for students is 3:15 p.m. in Henson Hall Room 313.  Refreshments are served at 3:50 p.m. in Henson Hall Room 213. For more information call 410-543-6489 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.