News & Events

When

Date - October 4, 2023
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

What

Ph.D. Defense
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
UNC Greensboro
Oberlies Research Group

Title: “Isolation and Semisynthesis of Bioactive Fungal Metabolites”

Abstract:

This project involved the isolation of secondary metabolites from fungal strain MSX103273, and semisynthetic approaches to insert a fluorine atom into diepoxin-η. In addition, as part of a metabolomic study of Aspergillus flavus, a series of mycotoxins were isolated and examined. Overall, this work yielded the identification of known and unknown secondary metabolites from MSX103273 that are part of the spirobisnaphthalenes family, and the first report involving the incorporation of a fluorine atom into spirobisnaphthalenes by means of semisynthesis. Our investigation of the biological activity illustrated micromolar inhibition against human ovarian (OVCAR3) and melanoma (MDA-MB-435) cancer cell lines.