Weiping Tang, assistant professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, has received his first R01 grant. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has also awarded him a Supplement for Collaborative Science award on ion channels.

The five-year funding will support his research in the development of new stereoselective methods for the synthesis of a class of complex natural products containing four-membered rings. These natural products have broad biological activities including antibiotics, antiviral agents, analgesics, selective cytochrome P450 inhibitors and histamine receptor antagonists. Tang’s lab focuses on organic synthesis and chemical biology. The NIGMS supplement award will facilitate the collaborative research between Tang and Baron Chanda, professor in the Physiology Department in the School of Medicine and Public Health, on elucidating structural information of ion channels using chemical probes.