School of Pharmacy
University of Wisconsin-Madison

C. Richard Hutchinson Lecture

About Dr. C. Richard Hutchinson

portrait of C. Richard HutchinsonC. Richard Hutchinson (Hutch) was born in Dayton, OH (1943). He attended Ohio State University (BS, 1966) and the University of Minnesota (PhD, 1970). Following postdoctoral work at Cambridge University, England (1971), he was an Assistant Professor (Pharmacognosy, University of Connecticut, 1971-74; Medicinal Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1974), Associate Professor and Professor (Medicinal Chemistry and Bacteriology University of Wisconsin, 1974-2000). He retired in March 2000 to join Kosan Biosciences, Hayward, CA, as a Vice President and head of New Technologies. In 2004 he returned part-time to the University of Wisconsin, left Kosan in December 2006 and in 2007 co-founded Centrose LLC.

During his career spanning 37 years, he made major advances in the biosynthesis of naturally occurring drugs through studies of the molecular genetics and biochemistry of antibiotic production in microorganisms. Through work on the genetic manipulation of polyketide genes, his laboratory created novel metabolites, devised methods to purify and study polyketide synthase enzymes, established fermentation routes to pharmaceutically important compounds, and used genetic engineering to develop improved strains of commercially important microorganisms. He is particularly noted for combining biochemical, chemical, and genetic methods in his research. Dr. Hutchinson published over 240 papers, held numerous federal and industrial resea rch gra nts, and received many prestigious awards, including Guggenheim and Fullbright fellowships, the Charles Thom Research Achievement Award of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, the AACP Paul Dawson Biotechnology Award, the Research Achievement Award of the American Society for Pharmacognosy, and a Distinguished Alumni Award from Ohio State University.

Named Lecture Series

Past Hutchinson Lectures

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2023: Julia Kubanek, PhD (Georgia Tech)

Julia Kubanek, PhD
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Georgia Tech

  • Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Cellular Pathway to Neurotoxin Induction in a Harmful Algal Bloom

2022: Ben Shen, PhD (UF Scripps Biomedical Research)

Ben Shen, PhD
Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Medicine
UF Scripps Biomedical Research

  • Leverage a Large Actinobacterial Strain Collection for Natural Products and Drug Discovery

2021 (Virtual) Margo Haygood, PhD (University of Utah)

Margo Haygood, PhD
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
University of Utah

  • The Role of Symbioses in Natural Product Discovery: Discoveries from Bacterial Symbionts of Shipworms

2019: Janet Smith, PhD and Bradley Moore, PhD

Janet Smith, PhD
Margaret J. Hunter Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences and Professor of Biological Chemistry
University of Michigan

  • Natural Product Biosynthetic Enzymes: Not All Domains Are What They Appear to Be

Bradley Moore, PhD
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of California, San Diego

  • Connecting Genes to Chemistry to Empower Natural Product Drug Discovery and Biocatalysis

2017: William Gerwick, PhD

William Gerwick, PhD
Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

  • The Face of a Molecule: Accelerating the Discovery of Bioactive Cyanobacterial Natural Products through Application of Novel Methodologies

2016: Charles Boone, PhD

Charles Boone, PhD
Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto

  • The Global Yeast Genetic Interaction Network: Mapping Cellular Function and Principles of Inheritance

2015: Chaitan Khosla, PhD

Chaitan Khosla, PhD
Department of Chemistry, Stanford University

  • Assembly Line Biosynthesis of Polyketide Antibiotics

2014: David H. Sherman, PhD

David H. Sherman, PhD
University of Michigan

  • New Strategies and Tools for Expanding Natural Product Structural Diversification in Drug Discovery Applications

2013-14: Chris M. Ireland, PhD

Chris M. Ireland, PhD
Dean, College of Pharmacy, University of Utah

  • Thirty Years of Evolution in an Academic Drug Discovery Program: Then and Now

2012: Jon Clardy, PhD

Jon Clardy, PhD
Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Havard Medical School

  • Chemistry of Bacterial Symbionts

2011: Craig A. Townsend, PhD

Craig A. Townsend, PhD
Department of Chemistry, The John Hopkins University

  • Structural, Mechanistic and Engineering Studies of Polyketide Biosynthesis

2010: John C. Vederas, PhD

John C. Vederas, PhD
Professor of Chemistry, University of Alberta; Research Chair in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry

  • PKS Enzymes from Fungi: Protein Machines that Build Complex Natural Products

2010: C. Richard Hutchinson – A Tribute

C. Richard Hutchinson – A Tribute

Dr. David E. Cane
Professor, Department of Chemistry
Brown University

  • Biosynthesis of Natural Products – from Stable Isotopes to Enzymes to Genes and Back

Dr. Julian Davies
Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
University of British Columbian

  • Are Antibiotics Naturally Antibiotics?

Prof. Ben Shen
Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Charles M. Johnson Chair in Pharmacy
UW-Madison

  • Continuing the Hutchinson Legacy – Natural Product Biosynthesis, Engineering and Drug Discovery

Prof. William Fenical
Distinguished Professor of Oceanography and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Scripps Institution of Oceanography

  • Drug Discovery from the Deep Oceans

2008: Natural Product Biosynthesis, Engineering, and Drug Discovery – A Symposium Honoring the Distinguished Career of Professor Emeritus C. Richard Hutchinson

Prof. Tohru Dairi
Toyama Prefectural University

  • Studies on a New Biosynthetic Pathway for a Vitamin Found in Some Bacteria

Dr. Stefano Donadio
KtedoGen

  • Antibiotics, Pathways and Actinomycetes: Exporting the Hutchinson Culture

Dr. Steve Kendrew
Biotica Technology

  • Polyketide Lead Optimization: Introducing Structural Diversity by Biosynthetic Engineering

Prof. Haruyasu Kinashi
Hiroshima University

  • Linear Replicons and Seconary Metabolism in Streptomyces

Dr. Kerry Kulowski
Wyeth Research

  • Continuing the Hutchinson Tradition: Innovative Approaches to Accessing Natural Products

Prof. Ben Shen
University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Manipulation of Natural Product Biosynthetic Machinery for Strctural Diversity and Drug Discovery and Development

Prof. Joo-Won Suh
Myongji University

  • Effects and New Functions of S-Adenosylmethionine in Streptomyces spp

Prof. Li Tang
Dalian University of Technology, Dalian

  • Novel Epothilones: Chemistry and Biology

Prof. Yiguang Wang
Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology

  • Current Studies on Geldanamycin Production in Streptomyces Hygroscopicus 17997

Prof. Kenji Watanabe
University of Southern Califormia

  • Total Engineered Biosynthesis of Antitumor Agent Echinomycin in E. coli

Prof. Sergy Zotchev
Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  • New and Improved Anti-fungal Polyene Macrolides through Biosynthetic and Chemical Engineering