Susquehanna Valley Section

November 2005 Meeting

The three hundred sixtieth meeting of the Section will be held on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 at Marywood University. A dinner will be followed by a guest presentation by Professor Ned Heindel entitled An Approach to Anti-Alzheimer's Therapeutics: Inhibitors of Acetylcholinesterase.

Dinner: The menu for the dinner is tossed green salad with champagne vinaigrette, pasta with seared scallops, and assorted fruit crumb cake for dessert. Beverages will include coffee, tea, and soft drinks. Cost of the dinner will be $15.95. Please RSVP to Ms. Beverly Mizanty, Marywood University Department of Science. e-mail: mizanty@marywood.edu; phone: 570-348-6265.

Directions:
From the U.S. Interstate 81, Exit 188 (old exit 55): follow directional signs at the end of the exit ramp toward Dunmore (If you are traveling north on 81, make a left at the light at the O'Neill Highway, which becomes Blakely Street.) Follow Blakely Street to traffic light at Drinker Street. Turn right onto Drinker Street which merges with Electric Street. Proceed to second traffic light. At this intersection, turn right onto North Washington Avenue, and proceed four blocks. At third stop sign on North Washington, turn right onto Seminary Street. Proceed up the hill to the Memorial Arch. Parking areas are located near the Memorial Arch and on other designated sections of campus.

For more information see the campus map.

An Approach to Anti-Alzheimer's Therapeutics: Inhibitors of Acetylcholinesterase
As America's population ages, one of the fastest growing causes of death is Alzheimer's dementia. Among several physical and chemical events occurring in the central nervous systems of disease sufferers is the depletion of stored and available acetylcholine, a critical neurotransmitter. Therapeutic interventions that have sought to increase acetylcholine's biosynthesis have been unsuccessful, while several candidate drugs that retard its metabolism do seem to offer modest clinical improvement. Both reversible and irreversible inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase, with unsymmetrical choline carbonates as the basic framework, have been designed, synthesized, and tested. New synthetic approaches have been developed to such inhibitors, which release chemotoxic agents like quinone methide and haloketones at the enzyme's active site. Promising inhibitors with IC50 values in the micromolar range are in hand.

Biography and Professional Activities:
Lebanon Valley College, B.S.cum laude, 1959 (Chemistry/Math); University of Delaware, Ph.D., 1963 (Organic Chemistry); Princeton University, fellow, 1964 (medicinal Chemistry); Lebanon Valley College, honorary D.Sc. 1985; Albright College, honorary D.Sc., 1993. Professional activities: President, American Chemical Society (Washington, DC), 1994; Director, American Chemical Society (Washington, DC), 1985-1996; director; Council for Chemical Research, 1995-1999; Board Member, Chemical Sciences Roundtable-National Academy of Sciences, 2001-present; trustee, Northampton County Historical Society; 1989-present; trustee, Chemical Heritage Foundation (Board then Heritage Council), 1986-present; consultant, Digestive Care, 1992-present; consultant, Bio-ProX, 1995-1997; consultant, DCV Pharmaceuticals, 1998-2000; consultant Serenix Pharmaceuticals, 1999-present; consultant, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; 1990-present; consultant, Air Products and Chemicals, Allentown, PA,1991-present.