Department Head Office: 8-101A Weaver Densford Hall Research Office: 717 Delaware St SE, Room 452 Telephone: 612-626-6320 Fax: 612-624-0139 Email: georg239@umn.edu

Education:

B.S. 1975, Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany
Ph.D. 1980, Philipps Universität Marburg
Postdoctoral 1981, Philipps Universität Marburg
Postdoctoral 1982, University of Ottawa, Canada

Research:

Synthetic medicinal agents, natural products chemistry, new synthetic methods, stereochemistry.

Professor Georg and her group are involved in the design, semisynthesis, total synthesis, and evaluation of biologically active agents. Current therapeutic areas include cancer, male contraception, and Alzheimer's disease. These projects require the development of synthetic methods, including asymmetric methodology, synthesis of natural products, and structure-activity studies aimed at improving the therapeutic efficacy of lead compounds, including natural products, and leads from high throughput screening.

Combinatorial chemistry approaches are also used for lead optimization.  Interdisciplinary projects are a main focus in the Georg group, involving medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry and reproductive biology.  An active collaboration exists between the Reproductive Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Georg Group.

Professor Georg has served as a member of review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society review board. She was the 2000 Sato Memorial International Award recipient of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan and the 2001 Nolan and Gloria Sommer Award Winner (University of Nebraska). She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2005 she was the Loyd E. Harris Lecturer of the School of Pharmacy, University of Oklahoma, the Taito O. Soine Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, and the George Lesher Lecturer in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute.

Recent Publications:

Turunen, B.; Georg, G. I. Amino Acid-Derived Enaminones: A Study in Ring Formation Providing Valuable Asymmetric Synthons. J. Am Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 8702-8703.

Spletstoser, J. T.; Turunen, B. J.; Desino, K.; Rice, A.; Dutta, A.; Datta, D.; Huff, J. K.; Himes, R. H.; Audus, K. L.; Seelig, A.; Georg, G. I.  Single-site Chemical Modification at C10 of the Baccatin Core of Paclitaxel Analogs Reduces P-Glycoprotein Interactions in Bovine Brain Microvessel Endothelial Cells and Retains Cytotoxicity. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2005, 16, 495-498.

Haack, T.; Haack, K.; Diederich, W.; Blackman, B.; Georg, G. I. Formal Total Synthesis of (-)-Salicylihalamides A and B from D-Glucose and L-Rhamnose. J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 7592-7604.