Editorial pubs.acs.org/jnp
Special Issue in Honor of William Fenical, a Pioneer in Marine Natural Products Discovery and Drug Development In 1973, Dr. Fenical joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, where he has resided ever since. In his 42 (and counting) years at Scripps, Dr. Fenical’s scholarly contributions have been extensive and are widely viewed as examples of sophisticated, innovative, and biomedically valuable scientific investigations. Overall, his record of achievement in research and mentorship (440+ publications, 23 patents, 45 graduate and 85 postdoctoral associates trained as of December 2014) places him in the highest echelons of our scientific community. Examples of Dr. Fenical’s work that illustrate his blend of scientific disciplines include his landmark papers on the discovery of neurotoxins of unique structure from marine corals,1 defensive diterpenoids from tropical green algae that contribute to the success of these algae to add substantial biomass to tropical reef systems,2 and the defensive strategies of seaweed in warding off microbial pathogens.3 Dr. Fenical applied this distinctive feature to his investigation of marine microorganisms as well, as evidenced from such seminal papers as the Chemical Ecology of Marine Microbial Defense.4 The last couple of decades have seen Dr. Fenical innovatively pioneer the biomedical potential of marine microbial natural products. When he initiated his studies with marine bacteria and fungi, marine microbiology as integrated with natural products investigations was still in its infancy, and little was known about how to culture new and chemically diverse microbial species. Together with his long-time microbiology colleague, Dr. Paul Jensen, he has made important contributions to our knowledge of true marine actinomycete bacteria,5 such as the new marine genus Salinispora. Additionally, Dr. Fenical has brought his life-long interest in chemical ecology to this pursuit, with the result that his laboratory has uncovered that marine bacteria occupy specialty niches in the marine environment and produce secondary metabolites of extraordinary importance to these habitats.6 Dr. Fenical has taken a lead role in articulating and advocating the search for novel biomedical agents from marine bacteria using variable growth conditions and other considerations of relevance to the origins and biochemical nature of these organisms. One of his most exciting recent successes in this area has been the discovery of the salinosporamides, novel β-lactones with considerable anticancer potential as proteasome inhibitors.7 In 2006, salinosporamide A entered phase I human clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other cancers in partnership with the San Diego biotech firm Nereus Pharmaceuticals. More recently, he has pioneered another very promising marine anticancer agent, the dermcidin-targeting agent seriniquinone, in preclinical collaborative studies with the National Cancer Institute and Eisai Research Institute.8
I
t is our privilege as Guest Editors to assemble this special issue of the Journal of Natural Products in honor of our colleague, mentor, and friend William Fenical, Distinguished Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. We thank his former students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists, collaborators, and colleagues who generously contributed a wonderfully diverse collection of research articles and reviews that are showcased in this issue. Dr. Fenical’s scientific interests are wide and varied, covering many of the major thrusts of natural products research, and they are reflected in these assembled articles on isolation and discovery, chemical ecology, biological evaluation, synthesis, and biosynthesis. Dr. Fenical has been a true “pioneer” in the field of marine natural products chemistry. From his earliest work on the unique natural products of temperate and tropical seaweeds in the 1970s to his highly noteworthy investigations of gorgonian corals in the 1980s and 1990s, and finally to his pioneering investigations of marine microorganisms over the last couple decades, his work has always been several years ahead of the rest of the field, of the highest technical quality, and invariably yielding exciting and high-profile results. Dr. Fenical’s inquiring approach to science has impelled him to periodically survey the field of marine natural products chemistry in critical and insightful reviews, often asking the question, where are the new horizons? His intellectual energy in exploring these new arenas with modern, innovative, and sophisticated methodologies and contemporary thinking has been exceptional. Dr. Fenical was born in Chicago in 1941 and received all of his college education in California, where he focused on organic chemistry. Upon completion of his Ph.D. at UC Riverside, Dr. Fenical was employed for one year at the Shell Development Company in Emeryville, CA. After this brief industrial experience, his interests turned to the development of an academic program in the field of marine natural products chemistry and ecology, a new direction accommodating his deep interests in the oceans and the unusual life forms therein. © 2015 American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
Special Issue: Special Issue in Honor of William Fenical Published: March 27, 2015 347
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00146 J. Nat. Prod. 2015, 78, 347−348
Journal of Natural Products
Editorial
(2) Paul, V. J.; Fenical, W. Science 1983, 221, 747−749. (3) Kubanek, J.; Jensen, P. R.; Keifer, P. A.; Sullards, M. C.; Collins, D. O. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2003, 100, 6916−6921. (4) Engel, S.; Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W. J. Chem. Ecol. 2002, 28, 1971−1985. (5) Mincer, T. J.; Jensen, P. R.; Kauffman, C. A.; Fenical, W. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2002, 68, 5005−5011. (6) Gil-Turnes, M. S.; Hay, M. E.; Fenical, W. Science 1989, 246, 116−118. (7) Feling, R. H.; Buchanan, G. O.; Mincer, T. J.; Kauffman, C. A.; Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 355−357. (8) Trzoss, L.; Fukuda, T.; Costa-Lotufo, L. V.; Jimenez, P.; La Clair, J. J.; Fenical, W. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2014, 111, 14687−14692. (9) Fenical, W. Science 1982, 215, 923−928. (10) Fenical, W. J. Nat. Prod. 1987, 50, 1001−1008. (11) Fenical, W. Chem. Rev. 1993, 93, 1673−1683. (12) Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1994, 48, 559− 584. (13) Fenical, W.; Jensen, P. R. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2006, 2, 666−673.
For more than four decades, Dr. Fenical’s extensive studies of the unique chemical adaptations of marine life have had an enormous impact on the development of the field of natural products in the United States. He has written over 30 reviews on the subject and been a tireless advocate for natural products chemistry. Notable reviews include his 1982 manuscript in Science comparing natural products from the marine and terrestrial environments.9 From his efforts and discoveries in work with marine corals, he wrote a key 1987 review in the Journal of Natural Products.10 Since the 1990s, he has written a dozen reviews on the chemistry of marine bacteria, including Chemical Studies of Marine Bacteria: Developing a New Resource;11 Strategies for the Discovery of Secondary Metabolites from Marine Bacteria: Ecological Perspectives;12 and Developing a New Resource for Drug Discovery: Marine Actinomycete Bacteria.13 Through these reviews, he has been a powerful voice for further exploration of the natural world as sources of new secondary metabolites with biomedical potential. Dr. Fenical has long performed a valuable service to the profession of natural products chemistry. His life-long contributions to the field of marine natural products chemistry were recognized by his peers through several awards, most notably the Scheuer Award at the 1996 Marine Natural Products Gordon Research Conference, the NCI Merit Award from the NIH in 2003, the Ernest Guenther Award in Natural Products Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 2006, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 2006. He is well known to a more general scientific community because of his frequent and energetic service as spokesman for this field, in the context of scientific meetings, industrial and governmental engagements, and seminars presented to the general public. He has been active in many scientific and organizational roles throughout his professional career, serving as Marine Natural Products Gordon Conference Chair in 1986, Review Member of the Bioorganic and Natural Products Study Section at the NIH from 1987 to 1991, the President of the International Society of Chemical Ecology in 1993−1994, and the President of the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 2006−2007. In closing, this special issue includes papers reflective of the enormous impact and inspiration that Dr. William Fenical has had on the fields of marine science, natural products chemistry, chemical ecology, and the biomedical development of new natural products into the clinic. The many authors of the articles within this issue of the Journal of Natural Products honor the life work and contributions of this “pioneer” in the most profound and significant manner possible, namely, through the reporting of their own scientific achievements in the natural products sciences.
Bradley S. Moore William H. Gerwick
■
University of California at San Diego
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
■
REFERENCES
(1) Fenical, W.; Okuda, R. K.; Bandurraga, M. M.; Culver, P.; Jacobs, R. S. Science 1981, 212, 1512−1514. 348
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00146 J. Nat. Prod. 2015, 78, 347−348
Special Issue in Honor of William Fenical, a Pioneer in Marine Natural Products Discovery and Drug Development In 1973, Dr. Fenical joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, where he has resided ever since. In his 42 (and counting) years at Scripps, Dr. Fenical’s scholarly contributions have been extensive and are widely viewed as examples of sophisticated, innovative, and biomedically valuable scientific investigations. Overall, his record of achievement in research and mentorship (440+ publications, 23 patents, 45 graduate and 85 postdoctoral associates trained as of December 2014) places him in the highest echelons of our scientific community. Examples of Dr. Fenical’s work that illustrate his blend of scientific disciplines include his landmark papers on the discovery of neurotoxins of unique structure from marine corals,1 defensive diterpenoids from tropical green algae that contribute to the success of these algae to add substantial biomass to tropical reef systems,2 and the defensive strategies of seaweed in warding off microbial pathogens.3 Dr. Fenical applied this distinctive feature to his investigation of marine microorganisms as well, as evidenced from such seminal papers as the Chemical Ecology of Marine Microbial Defense.4 The last couple of decades have seen Dr. Fenical innovatively pioneer the biomedical potential of marine microbial natural products. When he initiated his studies with marine bacteria and fungi, marine microbiology as integrated with natural products investigations was still in its infancy, and little was known about how to culture new and chemically diverse microbial species. Together with his long-time microbiology colleague, Dr. Paul Jensen, he has made important contributions to our knowledge of true marine actinomycete bacteria,5 such as the new marine genus Salinispora. Additionally, Dr. Fenical has brought his life-long interest in chemical ecology to this pursuit, with the result that his laboratory has uncovered that marine bacteria occupy specialty niches in the marine environment and produce secondary metabolites of extraordinary importance to these habitats.6 Dr. Fenical has taken a lead role in articulating and advocating the search for novel biomedical agents from marine bacteria using variable growth conditions and other considerations of relevance to the origins and biochemical nature of these organisms. One of his most exciting recent successes in this area has been the discovery of the salinosporamides, novel β-lactones with considerable anticancer potential as proteasome inhibitors.7 In 2006, salinosporamide A entered phase I human clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other cancers in partnership with the San Diego biotech firm Nereus Pharmaceuticals. More recently, he has pioneered another very promising marine anticancer agent, the dermcidin-targeting agent seriniquinone, in preclinical collaborative studies with the National Cancer Institute and Eisai Research Institute.8
I
t is our privilege as Guest Editors to assemble this special issue of the Journal of Natural Products in honor of our colleague, mentor, and friend William Fenical, Distinguished Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. We thank his former students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists, collaborators, and colleagues who generously contributed a wonderfully diverse collection of research articles and reviews that are showcased in this issue. Dr. Fenical’s scientific interests are wide and varied, covering many of the major thrusts of natural products research, and they are reflected in these assembled articles on isolation and discovery, chemical ecology, biological evaluation, synthesis, and biosynthesis. Dr. Fenical has been a true “pioneer” in the field of marine natural products chemistry. From his earliest work on the unique natural products of temperate and tropical seaweeds in the 1970s to his highly noteworthy investigations of gorgonian corals in the 1980s and 1990s, and finally to his pioneering investigations of marine microorganisms over the last couple decades, his work has always been several years ahead of the rest of the field, of the highest technical quality, and invariably yielding exciting and high-profile results. Dr. Fenical’s inquiring approach to science has impelled him to periodically survey the field of marine natural products chemistry in critical and insightful reviews, often asking the question, where are the new horizons? His intellectual energy in exploring these new arenas with modern, innovative, and sophisticated methodologies and contemporary thinking has been exceptional. Dr. Fenical was born in Chicago in 1941 and received all of his college education in California, where he focused on organic chemistry. Upon completion of his Ph.D. at UC Riverside, Dr. Fenical was employed for one year at the Shell Development Company in Emeryville, CA. After this brief industrial experience, his interests turned to the development of an academic program in the field of marine natural products chemistry and ecology, a new direction accommodating his deep interests in the oceans and the unusual life forms therein. © 2015 American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
Special Issue: Special Issue in Honor of William Fenical Published: March 27, 2015 347
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00146 J. Nat. Prod. 2015, 78, 347−348
Journal of Natural Products
Editorial
(2) Paul, V. J.; Fenical, W. Science 1983, 221, 747−749. (3) Kubanek, J.; Jensen, P. R.; Keifer, P. A.; Sullards, M. C.; Collins, D. O. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2003, 100, 6916−6921. (4) Engel, S.; Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W. J. Chem. Ecol. 2002, 28, 1971−1985. (5) Mincer, T. J.; Jensen, P. R.; Kauffman, C. A.; Fenical, W. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2002, 68, 5005−5011. (6) Gil-Turnes, M. S.; Hay, M. E.; Fenical, W. Science 1989, 246, 116−118. (7) Feling, R. H.; Buchanan, G. O.; Mincer, T. J.; Kauffman, C. A.; Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 355−357. (8) Trzoss, L.; Fukuda, T.; Costa-Lotufo, L. V.; Jimenez, P.; La Clair, J. J.; Fenical, W. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2014, 111, 14687−14692. (9) Fenical, W. Science 1982, 215, 923−928. (10) Fenical, W. J. Nat. Prod. 1987, 50, 1001−1008. (11) Fenical, W. Chem. Rev. 1993, 93, 1673−1683. (12) Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1994, 48, 559− 584. (13) Fenical, W.; Jensen, P. R. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2006, 2, 666−673.
For more than four decades, Dr. Fenical’s extensive studies of the unique chemical adaptations of marine life have had an enormous impact on the development of the field of natural products in the United States. He has written over 30 reviews on the subject and been a tireless advocate for natural products chemistry. Notable reviews include his 1982 manuscript in Science comparing natural products from the marine and terrestrial environments.9 From his efforts and discoveries in work with marine corals, he wrote a key 1987 review in the Journal of Natural Products.10 Since the 1990s, he has written a dozen reviews on the chemistry of marine bacteria, including Chemical Studies of Marine Bacteria: Developing a New Resource;11 Strategies for the Discovery of Secondary Metabolites from Marine Bacteria: Ecological Perspectives;12 and Developing a New Resource for Drug Discovery: Marine Actinomycete Bacteria.13 Through these reviews, he has been a powerful voice for further exploration of the natural world as sources of new secondary metabolites with biomedical potential. Dr. Fenical has long performed a valuable service to the profession of natural products chemistry. His life-long contributions to the field of marine natural products chemistry were recognized by his peers through several awards, most notably the Scheuer Award at the 1996 Marine Natural Products Gordon Research Conference, the NCI Merit Award from the NIH in 2003, the Ernest Guenther Award in Natural Products Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 2006, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 2006. He is well known to a more general scientific community because of his frequent and energetic service as spokesman for this field, in the context of scientific meetings, industrial and governmental engagements, and seminars presented to the general public. He has been active in many scientific and organizational roles throughout his professional career, serving as Marine Natural Products Gordon Conference Chair in 1986, Review Member of the Bioorganic and Natural Products Study Section at the NIH from 1987 to 1991, the President of the International Society of Chemical Ecology in 1993−1994, and the President of the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 2006−2007. In closing, this special issue includes papers reflective of the enormous impact and inspiration that Dr. William Fenical has had on the fields of marine science, natural products chemistry, chemical ecology, and the biomedical development of new natural products into the clinic. The many authors of the articles within this issue of the Journal of Natural Products honor the life work and contributions of this “pioneer” in the most profound and significant manner possible, namely, through the reporting of their own scientific achievements in the natural products sciences.
Bradley S. Moore William H. Gerwick
■
University of California at San Diego
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
■
REFERENCES
(1) Fenical, W.; Okuda, R. K.; Bandurraga, M. M.; Culver, P.; Jacobs, R. S. Science 1981, 212, 1512−1514. 348
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00146 J. Nat. Prod. 2015, 78, 347−348
