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Jose L. Giner
Associate Professor

416 Jahn Lab
1 Forestry Dr.
Syracuse, New York 13210

Phone: (315) 470-6895/470-6855
Email: jlginer@syr.edu

Ph. D., 1991, Stanford University; Postdoctoral Fellow, ETH-Zurich, 1991-1993; Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 1993-1995.

• The chemistry of natural products - SUNY Potsdam, June 2-5, 2010
• 3D Photos from U.S. HAB Symposium 2007 Halloween Party

Click on picture to see larger version:

As a bioorganic chemist José Giner works at the interface of organic chemistry and biology. The organic chemistry of life is the central theme of a wide range of research interests. Biologically active natural products, such as natural insecticides from euphorbias and petunias, and antiviral sterols from marine sponges, are the subjects of biosynthetic studies. These studies focus on enzyme catalyzed reactions and make use of the tools of physical organic chemistry and mechanistic enzymology to shed light on their details. An important technique for this research is NMR spectroscopy. Understanding the ways used by nature to generate structural diversity in natural products is the goal of these studies. A related topic is the application of biosynthetic knowledge to the synthesis of interesting natural products (biomimetic synthesis).

Dr. Giner's research emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration. The role of unusual marine sterols in environmentally dangerous algae is being studied together with marine biologists. Investigations in the chemical ecology of natural products used as plant defenses against insects and mamalian predators are in progress with members of the biology faculty. Other recent collaborations involve immune system stimulants and drugs targeting breast cancer.

Representative Publications

• Complete Publications List

Wang, H.; Sarikonda, G.; Puan, K.-J.; Tanaka, Y.; Feng, J.; Giner, J.-L.; Cao, R.; Mönkkönen, J.; Oldfield, E.; Morita, C. T.,"Indirect Stimulation of Human Vγ2Vδ2 T Cells Through Alterations in Isoprenoid Metabolism", J. Immunol. 2011. - in press.

Nkinin S.W.; Stringer. J.R; Keely, S.P.; Setchell, K.D.R,; Giner, J.-L.; and Kaneshiro, E.S., "Pneumocystis carinii Sterol 14α-Demethylase Activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae erg11 Knockout Mutant: Sterol Biochemistry", J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 2011, 58, 383-339..

Giner, J L.; G. H. Wikfors, " 'Dinoflagellate Sterols' in marine diatoms,"Phytochem., 2011, 72, 1896-901. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2011.05.002

Puan, K. J., et al., "Phenotypic and functional alterations of Vγ2Vδ2 T cell subsets in patients with active nasopharyngeal carcinoma," Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy 2009, 58, 1095-1107. dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00262-008-0629-8

Giner, J.-L.; H. Zhao; G. L. Boyer; M.  F. Satchwell; R.A. Andersen, "Sterol Chemotaxonomy of Marine Pelagophyte Algae," Chem. Biodiversity 2009,
6, 1111–1130. dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbdv.200800316

Giner, J.-L.; H. Zhao; C. Tomas, "Sterols and fatty acids of three harmful algae previously assigned as Chattonella," Phytochem. 2008, 69, 2167-2171.
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2008.05.013

Giner, J.-L.; Kehbein, K. A.; Cook, J. A.; Smith, M. C.; Vlahos, C. J.; Badwey, J. A., "Synthesis of fluorescent derivatives of wortmannin and demethoxyviridin as probes for phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase", Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2006, 16, 2518-2521.

Giner, J.-L.,”Tetrahydropyran Formation by Rearrangement of an Epoxy Ester: A Model for the Biosynthesis of Marine Polyether Toxins”, J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 721-724.

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