Anthony W. Czarnik | |
---|---|
Born | Anthony William Czarnik Jr. [1] 1957 (age 66–67) [2] |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Chemist |
Alma mater |
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Known for | Chemosensors, ACS Combinatorial Science, Illumina, Inc. |
Spouse | Rebecca Czarnik |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemistry |
Institutions | University of Nevada [4] (2004–present) |
Thesis | Chemical studies on nucleic acid analogues (1981) |
Doctoral advisor | Nelson J. Leonard [4] [5] |
Other academic advisors | Edwin Vedejs, Ronald Breslow [4] |
Website | www |
Anthony William Czarnik (born 1957) is an American chemist and inventor. He is best known for pioneering studies in the field of fluorescent chemosensors [6] [7] [2] [8] and co-founding Illumina, Inc., a biotechnology company in San Diego. [9] [10] Czarnik was also the founding editor of ACS Combinatorial Science . [11] He currently serves as an adjunct visiting professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. [12]
Anthony Czarnik attended the University of Wisconsin and received his B.S. in Biochemistry in 1977. He then studied with Nelson J. Leonard [5] at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and earned an M.S. in biochemistry in 1980 and a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1981 with a thesis, "Chemical studies on nucleic acid analogues." [13] He then studied with Ronald Breslow at Columbia University (1981–1983) as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow. [14]
Czarnik joined the Chemistry Department at the Ohio State University as assistant professor in 1983. He later was promoted to associate professor. Czarnik worked at Ohio State University until 1993, when he was offered a position as Director of the Bio-Organic Chemistry group at Parke-Davis Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [14] Czarnik was the founding editor of ACS Combinatorial Science (formerly Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry), an academic journal published by the American Chemical Society.
In April 1998, Czarnik co-founded Illumina, Inc., a biotechnology company now traded on NASDAQ and specializing in sequencing, genotyping and gene expression, with David Walt, John Stuelpnagel, Larry Bock, and Mark Chee. [9] [15] [16] [17] [18] Czarnik served as Illumina's chief scientific officer (CSO) until 2000. He was terminated from his position of CSO [19] and later filed a wrongful termination lawsuit. The Court ruled in Czarnik's favor, but the company appealed. [20] [21] The appeal court sustained the lower court verdict but in 2005 reduced the punitive damage ordered by the jury. [22] [23] Czarnik later filed a patent law case in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging four counts against his former employer, including reputational harm for correction of named inventor under 35 U.S.C. § 256. [21] [24]
In 2001, Czarnik was recruited by Sensors for Medicine and Science, Inc., where he served as chief scientific officer. [25] [26] Since 2003, Czarnik has co-founded a number of biotechnology companies including Deuteria Pharmaceuticals LLC and Protia LLC. [27] [28] [29]
Czarnik is a founder of RenoCares, a charity that provides support to alcohol and drug addicts convicted of misdemeanors in the form of financial aid for rehabilitation treatment, counseling, and psychological services. [30] The organization is managed by the Community Foundation of Western Nevada. [31] Since 2016, annual Czarnik Awards are given for exceptional work in the area of chemosensors at the International Conference on Molecular Sensors and Molecular Logic Gates (MSMLG). [32] [33] [34] In 2007, Czarnik took part as an executive producer of Electric Heart: Don Ellis, a documentary about Don Ellis, an American jazz musician. [35] [36]
While at Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research, a division of Warner-Lambert Company, Czarnik directed research and reported the first use of automation for the synthesis of compound “libraries”—large, organized collections of compounds. He became founding editor of the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry and led research into the use of Rf ID tags for directed sorting for use in compound library synthesis. [37]
The concept of the fluorescent chemosensors-molecular structures' ability to detect analytes was substantially developed in the book Fluorescent Chemosensors for Ion and Molecule Recognition edited by Czarnik and co-authored with other scientists. [38] The book's study is mostly focused on the analysis of the fluorescent chemosensors' chemical structures and their applications and technical uses in different fields of science. [39] [40] Czarnik coined the term chemosensor to refer to synthetic compounds that bind and “signal” the presence of analytes in reversible manner. He authored a review article in 1994, which led to more research being done worldwide, including a review of the field 23 years later. [41]
Eventually, chemosensors found applications in chemistry, biochemistry, immunology, physiology, medicine [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] and in the military for landmine detection. [47] The book laid foundation to other publications on chemosensors [48] [49] and gained recognition and critical attention of the scientific community with some of the scientists defining Czarnik's contributions "significant" [48] [50] and "pioneering in the field of fluorescent chemosensors" [51] [52] [53] "with a positive consequence on the creative pursuit of libraries of new molecules for a range of analyte targets". [54] There is also a conference called International Conference on Molecular Sensors and Molecular Logic Gates which is held twice a year and presents Czarnik awards to investors. [55] In 2003, Czarnik gave an outline of a practical method for monitoring how chemosensors can be used to track glucose levels for diabetic patients. His work, as well as that of many others, led to the first implantable FDA-approved continuous glucose monitor. [56]
Czarnik reported the first synthesis of Hexaazatriphenylene Hexanitrile, a hydrogen-free polyfunctional heterocycle with D3h symmetry, in 1986. [57] Because of the properties of this compound, it has found application in the preparation of OLEDs for TV screens and is being investigated for use in improving lithium-ion batteries. [58]
In 1998, Dr. Czarnik’s group at Parke-Davis reported the first successful drug discovery effort in which RNA was the target. [59] His group also conducted the first successful effort to discover small molecule drugs that work by binding to RNA. [60] [61] This has led to the creation of a new field of drug discovery, notably the focus of startup companies and scientific conferences. [62] [63]
The DNA analyzers developed at Illumina, which was co-founded by Czarnik in 1998, use the patented technology of multiplex decoding of array sensors with microspheres to read genetic codes. [64] As a result, the analyzers have reduced the cost of sequencing a human genome. [65]
In 2009, Czarnik submitted 240 patent applications covering the use of deuterium-substitution in drug discovery.. [66] He has also invented drugs such as (R)-d1-lenalidomide and (R)-d1-pioglitazone, for clinical studies. [67] [68]
Combinatorial chemistry comprises chemical synthetic methods that make it possible to prepare a large number of compounds in a single process. These compound libraries can be made as mixtures, sets of individual compounds or chemical structures generated by computer software. Combinatorial chemistry can be used for the synthesis of small molecules and for peptides.
In molecular biology and biotechnology, a fluorescent tag, also known as a fluorescent label or fluorescent probe, is a molecule that is attached chemically to aid in the detection of a biomolecule such as a protein, antibody, or amino acid. Generally, fluorescent tagging, or labeling, uses a reactive derivative of a fluorescent molecule known as a fluorophore. The fluorophore selectively binds to a specific region or functional group on the target molecule and can be attached chemically or biologically. Various labeling techniques such as enzymatic labeling, protein labeling, and genetic labeling are widely utilized. Ethidium bromide, fluorescein and green fluorescent protein are common tags. The most commonly labelled molecules are antibodies, proteins, amino acids and peptides which are then used as specific probes for detection of a particular target.
Supramolecular chemistry refers to the branch of chemistry concerning chemical systems composed of a discrete number of molecules. The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from weak intermolecular forces, electrostatic charge, or hydrogen bonding to strong covalent bonding, provided that the electronic coupling strength remains small relative to the energy parameters of the component. While traditional chemistry concentrates on the covalent bond, supramolecular chemistry examines the weaker and reversible non-covalent interactions between molecules. These forces include hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, pi–pi interactions and electrostatic effects.
In organic chemistry, crown ethers are cyclic chemical compounds that consist of a ring containing several ether groups (R−O−R’). The most common crown ethers are cyclic oligomers of ethylene oxide, the repeating unit being ethyleneoxy, i.e., −CH2CH2O−. Important members of this series are the tetramer (n = 4), the pentamer (n = 5), and the hexamer (n = 6). The term "crown" refers to the resemblance between the structure of a crown ether bound to a cation, and a crown sitting on a person's head. The first number in a crown ether's name refers to the number of atoms in the cycle, and the second number refers to the number of those atoms that are oxygen. Crown ethers are much broader than the oligomers of ethylene oxide; an important group are derived from catechol.
The term molecular recognition refers to the specific interaction between two or more molecules through noncovalent bonding such as hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, π-π interactions, halogen bonding, or resonant interaction effects. In addition to these direct interactions, solvents can play a dominant indirect role in driving molecular recognition in solution. The host and guest involved in molecular recognition exhibit molecular complementarity. Exceptions are molecular containers, including, e.g., nanotubes, in which portals essentially control selectivity. Selective partioning of molecules between two or more phases can also result in molecular recognition. In partitioning-based molecular recognition the kinetics and equilibrium conditions are governed by the presence of solutes in the two phases.
Chemical biology is a scientific discipline between the fields of chemistry and biology. The discipline involves the application of chemical techniques, analysis, and often small molecules produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and manipulation of biological systems. Although often confused with biochemistry, which studies the chemistry of biomolecules and regulation of biochemical pathways within and between cells, chemical biology remains distinct by focusing on the application of chemical tools to address biological questions.
Aptamers are oligomers of artificial ssDNA, RNA, XNA, or peptide that bind a specific target molecule, or family of target molecules. They exhibit a range of affinities, with variable levels of off-target binding and are sometimes classified as chemical antibodies. Aptamers and antibodies can be used in many of the same applications, but the nucleic acid-based structure of aptamers, which are mostly oligonucleotides, is very different from the amino acid-based structure of antibodies, which are proteins. This difference can make aptamers a better choice than antibodies for some purposes.
ACS Combinatorial Science, formerly Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry (1999-2010), was a peer-reviewed scientific journal, published since 1999 by the American Chemical Society. ACS Combinatorial Science publishes articles, reviews, perspectives, accounts and reports in the field of Combinatorial Chemistry.
A molecular logic gate is a molecule that performs a logical operation based on at least one physical or chemical inputs and a single output. The field has advanced from simple logic systems based on a single chemical or physical input to molecules capable of combinatorial and sequential operations such as arithmetic operations. Molecular logic gates work with input signals based on chemical processes and with output signals based on spectroscopic phenomena.
A molecular sensor or chemosensor is a molecular structure that is used for sensing of an analyte to produce a detectable change or a signal. The action of a chemosensor, relies on an interaction occurring at the molecular level, usually involves the continuous monitoring of the activity of a chemical species in a given matrix such as solution, air, blood, tissue, waste effluents, drinking water, etc. The application of chemosensors is referred to as chemosensing, which is a form of molecular recognition. All chemosensors are designed to contain a signalling moiety and a recognition moiety, that is connected either directly to each other or through a some kind of connector or a spacer. The signalling is often optically based electromagnetic radiation, giving rise to changes in either the ultraviolet and visible absorption or the emission properties of the sensors. Chemosensors may also be electrochemically based. Small molecule sensors are related to chemosensors. These are traditionally, however, considered as being structurally simple molecules and reflect the need to form chelating molecules for complexing ions in analytical chemistry. Chemosensors are synthetic analogues of biosensors, the difference being that biosensors incorporate biological receptors such as antibodies, aptamers or large biopolymers.
BODIPY is the technical common name of a chemical compound with formula C
9H
7BN
2F
2, whose molecule consists of a boron difluoride group BF
2 joined to a dipyrromethene group C
9H
7N
2; specifically, the compound 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene in the IUPAC nomenclature. The common name is an abbreviation for "boron-dipyrromethene". It is a red crystalline solid, stable at ambient temperature, soluble in methanol.
Dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC); also known as constitutional dynamic chemistry (CDC) is a method to the generation of new molecules formed by reversible reaction of simple building blocks under thermodynamic control. The library of these reversibly interconverting building blocks is called a dynamic combinatorial library (DCL). All constituents in a DCL are in equilibrium, and their distribution is determined by their thermodynamic stability within the DCL. The interconversion of these building blocks may involve covalent or non-covalent interactions. When a DCL is exposed to an external influence, the equilibrium shifts and those components that interact with the external influence are stabilised and amplified, allowing more of the active compound to be formed.
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A deuterated drug is a small molecule medicinal product in which one or more of the hydrogen atoms in the drug molecule have been replaced by its heavier stable isotope deuterium. Because of the kinetic isotope effect, deuterium-containing drugs may have significantly lower rates of metabolism, and hence a longer half-life.
Nanoclusters are atomically precise, crystalline materials most often existing on the 0-2 nanometer scale. They are often considered kinetically stable intermediates that form during the synthesis of comparatively larger materials such as semiconductor and metallic nanocrystals. The majority of research conducted to study nanoclusters has focused on characterizing their crystal structures and understanding their role in the nucleation and growth mechanisms of larger materials.
Small-molecule sensors are an effective way to detect the presence of metal ions in solution. Although many types exist, most small molecule sensors comprise a subunit that selectively binds to a metal that in turn induces a change in a fluorescent subunit. This change can be observed in the small molecule sensor's spectrum, which can be monitored using a detection system such as a microscope or a photodiode. Different probes exist for a variety of applications, each with different dissociation constants with respect to a particular metal, different fluorescent properties, and sensitivities. They show great promise as a way to probe biological processes by monitoring metal ions at low concentrations in biological systems. Since they are by definition small and often capable of entering biological systems, they are conducive to many applications for which other more traditional bio-sensing are less effective or not suitable.
RNA-targeting small molecules represent a class of small molecules, organic compounds with traditional drug properties that can bind to RNA secondary or tertiary structures and alter translation patterns, localization, and degradation.
Elizabeth Joy New is an Australian chemist and Professor of the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney. She won the 2018 Australian Museum 3M Eureka Prize.
Peter Jonathan Rutledge is a New Zealand chemist and professor at the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney. His research has focused on drug development for tuberculosis, antibiotics, and metal sensing. He has engaged in some research activity on catalysis.
Gerardo Turcatti is a Swiss-Uruguayan chemist who specialises in chemical biology and drug discovery. He is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and director of the Biomolecular Screening Facility at the School of Life Sciences there.
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