Recent Advances in Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis
George Barany
Professor, University of Minnesota
Professor Barany will provide his personal perspective on the principles and development of solid-phase peptide synthesis, reflecting on the legacy of his mentor R.B. Merrifield, and illustrating with examples from his own research and that of others to convey the current state-of-the-art.
George Barany is the Professor of Chemistry at University of Minnesota Twin Cities and holds a joint appointment as Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. Dr Barany conducted his graduate studies with Professor R.B. Merrifield at The Rockefeller University and received his Ph.D. in 1977 for the development of the dithiasuccinoyl (Dts) protecting group.
Professor Barany's research interests involve peptide synthesis, protecting groups for organic functionalities (with an emphasis of the concept of orthogonality), the chemistry of thiols, disulfides, and polysulfanes, functionalization of soluble and insoluble polymers, and mass spectrometry. His research, described in over 350 scientific publications, has covered areas including chemical synthesis of garlic constituents, studies on the mechanisms of protein folding, methods for chemical combinatorial libraries, and advances in the preparation of anti-sense DNA and RNA.
Dr Barany has authored a number of review articles on various aspects of the peptide field. He has received multiple honors in the field including the Vincent du Vigneaud Award in 1984 and the Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1986.