Yaroslav Boyko, a third-year graduate student in the David Sarlah lab, has received a Bristol-Myers Squibb Graduate Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
Boyko’s research is focused on the total synthesis of a rare family of marine natural products, the isomalabaricanes—molecules which have attracted much interest due to their potent anticancer activity.
Unfortunately, detailed biological studies have been impeded by low isolation yields from their natural sources (sponge from Pacific Ocean). To address this, the Sarlah lab has developed the first synthesis of these natural products which is both concise and scalable, enabling further biological investigations which might ultimately lead to the development of a new anticancer therapeutic agent.
Due to the fine control over building structural complexity and integration of novel transformations, their strategy will also be applied to the synthesis of a variety of other natural products, facilitating the search and development of new pharmaceuticals.
Boyko will present his research at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Chemistry Awards Symposium in Lawrenceville, New Jersey on April 30 of 2020.