Dr. Vern Schramm
Dr. Vern Schramm, a native of South Dakota, earned his Bachelor's degree from South Dakota State College. He then earned a Master's degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in the mechanism of enzyme action from the Australian National University. Upon returning to the United States, Dr. Schramm served as a NSF-NRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the NASA Ames Research Center. He then joined the faculty of Temple University School of Medicine, where he began fundamental research designed to understand enzymatic transition state structure. In 1987, he moved to the Bronx to become Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at Einstein. He was appointed to the Ruth Merns Chair of Biochemistry in 1995. At Einstein, his research on transition state structure has developed to become a powerful method for drug design. Dr. Schramm is world-renowned for his research into the “transition-state structure” of enzyme-catalyzed reactions -- the shapes that reacting molecules assume when enzymes catalyze chemical reactions. As he describes it, “By knowing the transition-state structure of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, we can design powerful inhibitors of enzymes to be used as drugs or antibiotics.” Two of the inhibitors designed by the Schramm laboratory have entered clinical trials. One of the antibiotics shows promise for treating leukemia that does not respond to other therapy. The second is in clinical trials for eventual application to autoimmune diseases. These include psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disorders, insulin-dependent diabetes and tissue transplant rejection. New agents are being explored for malaria, solid tumors and as bacterial antibiotics.
Dr. Schramm has received numerous honors in recognition of his contributions for both research and teaching in biochemistry and enzymology. These include a ten-year Merit Award from the NIH for work on transition states, the Repligen Award from the American Chemical Society, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Rudi Lemberg Award from the Australian Academy of Science, the Election to the Davidoff Society at Einstein, the George A. Sowell Award for Excellence in Teaching from Temple University School of Medicine, the Harry Eagle Award for Outstanding Basic Science Teaching from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and most recently his election into the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Schramm has served as the Chair of the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. He serves as a scientific advisor to national research resources and several biotechnology companies.
Figure 1. Phosphorolysis of inosine catalyzed by PNP. The
oxacarbenium-ion transition
state, its chemically stable analogues,
ImmH and DADMe-ImmH, and positions of isotopic
and remote labels are shown.
Figure taken from:
Check the following link for information about the 2006 plenary speaker.