James Nowick
@jsnowick.bsky.social
Professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC Irvine. My research focuses on the chemistry and biology of peptides, with particular interests in Alzheimer's disease, antibiotics, and the supramolecular chemistry of β-sheets: http://tinyurl.com/nowickgroup
Congratulations to Jason Zhu on the publication of his manuscript "A β-Hairpin Peptide Derived from Aβ Forms Different Oligomers in the Crystal State and in Aqueous Solution" in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a.... This
A β-Hairpin Peptide Derived from Aβ Forms Different Oligomers in the Crystal State and in Aqueous Solution
The supramolecular assembly of amyloid β into soluble oligomers is critical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression. Soluble Aβ oligomers have emerged as neurotoxic species involved in AD progression and...
pubs.rsc.org
March 5, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Congratulations to Jason Zhu on the publication of his manuscript "A β-Hairpin Peptide Derived from Aβ Forms Different Oligomers in the Crystal State and in Aqueous Solution" in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a.... This
Reposted by James Nowick
Sat down with former NIH director Monica Bertagnolli yesterday at #aaasmtg to talk about layoffs set to hit the NIH and other agencies
“We’re going to lose the next generation, that is the most difficult loss," she said, adding she got very little sleep Friday 🧪
www.statnews.com/2025/02/16/n...
“We’re going to lose the next generation, that is the most difficult loss," she said, adding she got very little sleep Friday 🧪
www.statnews.com/2025/02/16/n...
Trump administration layoffs set to hit NIH are ‘devastating,’ former director Monica Bertagnolli says
Sweeping layoffs are set to hit federal health and science agencies, including at the NIH, and former director Monica Bertagnolli called the situation at the NIH “devastating.”
www.statnews.com
February 16, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Sat down with former NIH director Monica Bertagnolli yesterday at #aaasmtg to talk about layoffs set to hit the NIH and other agencies
“We’re going to lose the next generation, that is the most difficult loss," she said, adding she got very little sleep Friday 🧪
www.statnews.com/2025/02/16/n...
“We’re going to lose the next generation, that is the most difficult loss," she said, adding she got very little sleep Friday 🧪
www.statnews.com/2025/02/16/n...
Reposted by James Nowick
There have been both program officers and scientific review officers who have been terminated. However, I do not have a good sense of the numbers nor the rationale for one over others.
3/n
3/n
February 17, 2025 at 1:47 AM
There have been both program officers and scientific review officers who have been terminated. However, I do not have a good sense of the numbers nor the rationale for one over others.
3/n
3/n
Reposted by James Nowick
The biggest hit to extramural program staff appears to be grants management specialists (GMSs). It appears that 15-20% of GMSs were terminated.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
kermit the frog has his hand on his mouth
ALT: kermit the frog has his hand on his mouth
media.tenor.com
February 17, 2025 at 1:53 AM
The biggest hit to extramural program staff appears to be grants management specialists (GMSs). It appears that 15-20% of GMSs were terminated.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
This is quite concerning since these folks have already missed essentially a month of getting-grants-out time and have lots to do. They already work hard.
Congratulations to Sophie Padilla on the publication of "Vancomycin–Teixobactin Conjugates" in the Journal of the American Chemical Society pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/.... Conjugation of vancomycin to a fragment of teixobactin enhances antibiotic activity by 4–8-fold and restores activity against VRE.
Vancomycin–Teixobactin Conjugates
Vancomycin continues to be a widely used antibiotic of last resort in treating drug-resistant pathogens despite the emergence of vancomycin-resistant strains such as vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE). This communication reports that conjugation of vancomycin to a second antibiotic that targets a different region of lipid II enhances and rescues its antibiotic activity. Conjugation of vancomycin to a minimal teixobactin pharmacophore in which residues 1–6 are replaced with an aromatic amide results in substantial enhancement in activity over the individual components or mixtures thereof. Three conjugates with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 0.5 μg/mL against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 0.063–0.125 μg/mL against methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) were identified. Each of these conjugates is also active against VRE, even though the individual components are inactive, with the most active conjugate (Cbp-Lys10-teixo7–11-vanco) having an MIC of 2–4 μg/mL. These findings demonstrate that conjugation of vancomycin to a minimal teixobactin pharmacophore is an effective strategy for enhancing the activity of vancomycin against important Gram-positive pathogens.
pubs.acs.org
February 14, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Congratulations to Sophie Padilla on the publication of "Vancomycin–Teixobactin Conjugates" in the Journal of the American Chemical Society pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/.... Conjugation of vancomycin to a fragment of teixobactin enhances antibiotic activity by 4–8-fold and restores activity against VRE.
The Nowick group welcomes new first-year graduate students Carolina Gatewood and Harry Ung. Carolina earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Georgia Tech and performed research in M.G. Finn's group. Harry earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Emory University and did research in Simon Blakey's group.
February 8, 2025 at 1:40 AM
The Nowick group welcomes new first-year graduate students Carolina Gatewood and Harry Ung. Carolina earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Georgia Tech and performed research in M.G. Finn's group. Harry earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Emory University and did research in Simon Blakey's group.
Congratulations to Jackson Brunicardi and co-authors on the publication of Potent Analogues of Clovibactin from Commercially Available Amino Acid Building Blocks in the Journal of Organic Chemistry: doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.4c02828 .
Potent Analogues of Clovibactin from Commercially Available Amino Acid Building Blocks
This paper reports highly active analogues of clovibactin in which the rare, noncanonical amino acid d-hydroxyasparagine is replaced with the commercially available amino acid d-threonine. Sequential ...
doi.org
January 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Congratulations to Jackson Brunicardi and co-authors on the publication of Potent Analogues of Clovibactin from Commercially Available Amino Acid Building Blocks in the Journal of Organic Chemistry: doi.org/10.1021/acs.joc.4c02828 .
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Nick Truex at the University of South Carolina on the publication of his group's first paper, titled An artificial transcription factor that activates potent interferon-γ expression in human Jurkat T Cells (www.frontiersin.org/journals/mol...).
Frontiers | An artificial transcription factor that activates potent interferon-γ expression in human Jurkat T Cells
www.frontiersin.org
January 10, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Nick Truex at the University of South Carolina on the publication of his group's first paper, titled An artificial transcription factor that activates potent interferon-γ expression in human Jurkat T Cells (www.frontiersin.org/journals/mol...).
Wishing all of my first-year graduate students success in their day-long Organic Spectroscopy final exam. For previous years' course materials, see: canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/57646 (2023 website), www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... (2020 lecture videos), www.chem.uci.edu/~jsnowick/or... (old exams).
CHEM 203 LEC A: ORGANIC SPECTRSCOPY (41400)
canvas.eee.uci.edu
December 14, 2024 at 3:54 PM
Wishing all of my first-year graduate students success in their day-long Organic Spectroscopy final exam. For previous years' course materials, see: canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/57646 (2023 website), www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... (2020 lecture videos), www.chem.uci.edu/~jsnowick/or... (old exams).
I am always delighted to see what my graduate students can achieve when entrusted to do so. Two of my graduate students submitted their manuscripts to our favorite journal today. It's been great working with each of them and watching them take ownership of their work and manuscripts in the writing.
December 3, 2024 at 7:07 AM
I am always delighted to see what my graduate students can achieve when entrusted to do so. Two of my graduate students submitted their manuscripts to our favorite journal today. It's been great working with each of them and watching them take ownership of their work and manuscripts in the writing.
Reasons to Give Thanks:
Exciting new results
Manuscripts almost ready to go out
Encouraging score on grant proposal
Superb coworkers
Great colleagues and friends
Supportive department
Engaged grad students in Org. Spec. class
Fun travel as part of my career
My health
My loving supportive husband
Exciting new results
Manuscripts almost ready to go out
Encouraging score on grant proposal
Superb coworkers
Great colleagues and friends
Supportive department
Engaged grad students in Org. Spec. class
Fun travel as part of my career
My health
My loving supportive husband
November 27, 2024 at 1:02 AM
Reasons to Give Thanks:
Exciting new results
Manuscripts almost ready to go out
Encouraging score on grant proposal
Superb coworkers
Great colleagues and friends
Supportive department
Engaged grad students in Org. Spec. class
Fun travel as part of my career
My health
My loving supportive husband
Exciting new results
Manuscripts almost ready to go out
Encouraging score on grant proposal
Superb coworkers
Great colleagues and friends
Supportive department
Engaged grad students in Org. Spec. class
Fun travel as part of my career
My health
My loving supportive husband
Just starting preparation for the Nowick group pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I've just pulled two loaves of my sourdough wheat bread out of the oven. John has already made his all-butter pie crusts and is beginning to work on the apple and pumpkin pies and the cranberry sauce and cranberry-orange relish.
November 24, 2024 at 7:13 PM
Just starting preparation for the Nowick group pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I've just pulled two loaves of my sourdough wheat bread out of the oven. John has already made his all-butter pie crusts and is beginning to work on the apple and pumpkin pies and the cranberry sauce and cranberry-orange relish.