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Research
Dr. Seeberger research is focused on elucidating the role of complex oligosaccharides involved in a host of biological processes.
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Biography
Dr. Seeberger received his Ph.D., from University of Colorado.
The use of carbohydrate microarrays to study carbohydrate-cell interactions and to detect pathogens.
Disney MD, Seeberger PH
Chem Biol. 2004 Dec;11(12):1701-7
Tools for glycomics: mapping interactions of carbohydrates in biological systems.
Ratner DM, Adams EW, Disney MD, Seeberger PH
Chembiochem. 2004 Oct 4;5(10):1375-83
Modular synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides.
Orgueira HA, Bartolozzi A, Schell P, Litjens RE, Palmacci ER, Seeberger PH
Chemistry. 2003 Jan 3;9(1):140-69
Synthetic GPI as a candidate anti-toxic vaccine in a model of malaria.
Schofield L, Hewitt MC, Evans K, Siomos MA, Seeberger PH
Nature. 2002 Aug 15;418(6899):785-9
Automated solid-phase synthesis of oligosaccharides.
Plante OJ, Palmacci ER, Seeberger PH
Science. 2001 Feb 23;291(5508):1523-7
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Peter Seeberger's Research Focus
Our research program is focused on elucidating the role of complex oligosaccharides involved in a host of biological processes of medical relevance by employing molecular tools created by synthetic chemistry. We are particularly interested in understanding the recognition events responsible for the interactions of oligosaccharides with proteins that control cell growth, cell differentiation, cell-cell interactions, bacterial attachment to target cells and signaling events involving the extracellular matrix.
To address these questions we are developing and applying techniques traditionally associated with the areas of organic synthesis, solid-phase chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, engineering and automation, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, enzymology, molecular biology, neurobiology, immunology and drug design.
The core interests our research program currently address the following areas:
1.Development of an automated oligosaccharide synthesizer New chemical methods for oligosaccharide synthesis Solid-phase carbohydrate synthesis
2.Discovery of oligosaccharide ligands of biological importance: Combinatorial carbohydrate libraries Carbohydrate-Chips Natural killer cell ligands Carbohydrate ligands for bacterial attachment Ligands of toll like receptors
3.Structure and function of heparin-like glycosaminoglycans Chemical synthesis of glycosaminoglycans in solution and on solid support Elucidation of sulfotransferase specificity in heparin biosynthesis FGF-regulation as a model for heparin-protein recognition
4.Design and evaluation of tailor-made glycoconjugates Fully synthetic carbohydrate vaccines (tropical diseases, cancer, HIV) Cell-type specific targeting of antisense oligonucleotides
5.New synthetic methods and total synthesis of complex natural products Heterocyclic chemistry Total synthesis Design of reagents for asymmetric synthesis
6.Microreactor Design for Use of microrectors for rapid reaction screening Scaling of reactions from laboratory to pilot plant scale
About Peter Seeberger
Experience
Peter H. Seeberger received his B.S. in 1989 from the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, where he studied chemistry as a Bavarian government fellow. In 1990 he moved as a Fulbright scholar to the University of Colorado where he earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry under the guidance of Marvin H. Caruthers in 1995. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Samuel J. Danishefsky at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City he began his independent career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 1998 and was promoted to Firmenich Associate Professor of Chemistry in 2002. In June 2003 he assumed a position as Professor for Organic Chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland and a position as Affiliate Professor at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. His research interests focus on the interface of chemistry and biology and in particular on the role of complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugates in information transfer in biological systems. His group has developed new methods for the automated solid-phase synthesis of complex carbohydrates and glycosaminoglycans that serve as molecular tools. Other interests include synthetic methodology, total synthesis, immunology, and biochemical and biophysical studies of carbohydrates.
Among other awards he received the Technology Review Top 100 Young Innovator Award (1999), Edgerton Award (2002), an Arthur C. Cope Young Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society (2003), the Horace B. Isbell Award from the American Chemical Society (2003) and the Otto-Klung Weberbank Prize (2004).
Professor Seeberger is the Editor of the Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry, Associate Editor of Chemistry & Biology and serves on the editorial advisory boards of several other journals. He serves of as member of the board of the Tesfa-Ilg "Hope for Africa" Foundation and the "Run-Against Malaria" event in Zurich. He is a consultant to several companies and the co-founder of Ancora Pharmaceuticals (Medford, USA).
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