Susquehanna Valley Section

May 2004 Meeting

The three hundred and fiftieth meeting of the Section will be held on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at Bloomsburg University in Room 408 of the Kehr Union Building. The dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m., awards will follow at 7:00 p.m., and the keynote address will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Dinner: A dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the ballroom (Room 408) Kehr Union Building. The entrées will include a beef dish, chicken with white wine sauce, and pasta with artichoke hearts. The sides will include a mixed greens salad with mandarin oranges and raspberry vinaigrette dressing, assorted fresh rolls, rice pilaf, a vegetable medley, and a dessert offering of chocolate mocha torte and peach pie. The cost will be $19 per person. Please RSVP to Janet Zimmerman at (570) 577-3258 or jzimmrmn@bucknell.edu by Friday, April 30.

See directions below.

Natural Products from Plants, Frogs and Arthropods: Imapct on Biomedical Research

Natural products provide a plethora of biologically active compounds with remarkably diverse structures. Delineation of structures and identification of biological targets have led not only to lead compounds for development of clinical agents, but to introduction of invaluable, selective research tools for investigation of biological systems. Discovery of such natural products has focused on plants, marine organisms and microorganisms, but valuable compounds also have come from amphibians/arthropods. Many natural products have had a major impact on biomedical research. Alkaloids have been particularly important. Without such alkaloids as morphine, reserpine, cocaine, nicotine, muscarine, atropine, galanthamine, and physostigmine from plants and batrachotoxins, pumiliotoxins, histrionicotoxins and epibatidine from amphibians, our knowledge of neurotransmitter function, ion channels and transport mechanisms would not have prospered. Remarkably, almost all of the over 500 alkaloids discovered in amphibian skin now appear to be derived unchanged from alkaloid-containing ants, beetles and millipedes.

John W. Daly received his B.S. and M.A. degrees from Oregon State College, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University. He began his career at the NIH as a postdoctoral fellow (1958-1960). In 1981, Dr. Daly became chief of the laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry at the NIH, and Chief of its section on pharmacodynamics, a position he held until 2003. He is currently Scientist Emeritus at the NIH. He received the Hillebrand Award and the Ernest Guenther Award from the American Chemical Society in 1978 and 2002 respectively. He also was awarded the Karl Wilhelm Scheele Award from the Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1999. In 1997, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In addition to his interest in field work and research, Dr. Daly is an avid fisherman.

Directions:
East of Bloomsburg: Use I-80 west to Exit 236A south.
West of Bloomsburg: Use I-80 east to Exit 236 south.
South of Bloomsburg:
From Central Pennsylvania, take Routes 11 and 15 north to the Town of Bloomsburg. Heading north on Main Street, you'll see Carver Hall directly ahead, and you'll arrive on the western end of the campus
From southeast Pennsylvania, take Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-476) to I-80 west (Pocono Exit) to Exit 236A south.
North of Bloomsburg:
From the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, take I-81 south to I-80 west to Exit 236A south.
From the Williamsport area, take I-180 south to I-80 east to Exit 236.

From Exit 236 on I-80, take Route 487 south and follow signs to campus, approximately one mile. You'll arrive on the eastern end of campus. The first sign on the left will be at Buckingham Maintenance Center; the second sign on the left will lead up a steep entry and onto campus facing Centennial Hall.

Parking
Attendees can park anywhere on campus after 5:00 p.m., except in the metered parking on Second St. (meters are active until 2 a.m.). It is suggested that attendees may find it convenient to park in the parking garage on the corner of Penn St. and Second St.

Links to Maps etc.
View a campus map and get more travel information.