Prof Stefan Oscarson, newly appointed Professor of Chemical Biology at UCD
The appointment of Stefan Oscarson as Professor of Chemical Biology in the UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology has been announced by Prof Des Fitzgerald, Vice-President for Research at UCD. Professor Oscarson was the recipient of an SFI Professor Recruitment award of €760,000 in February 2007.
"We are delighted to welcome Professor Oscarson to UCD," says Prof Fitzgerald. "This is the first ever appointment in chemical biology in Ireland. It illustrates UCD's commitment to competing at the forefront of international research, at the interface between chemistry and biology, over the coming years."
Prof Oscarson's distinguished academic and research career includes a prolific publication record and appointment this year as Editor of Carbohydrate Research. His main research interest is the synthesis of biologically active natural products for use in biological and medicinal experiments and applications. Oscarson held the position of Professor of Organic Chemistry since 2000 at Stockholm University and also held the position of Professor of Organic Chemistry in Göteborg University between 2002 and 2004.
In 2000 Professor Oscarson introduced a new glycosylation technique making it possible to synthesise sucrose (cane sugar) stereoselectively, a task that had been a challenge for carbohydrate chemists for more than a century. The results were published in Journal of American Chemical Society and were featured in Science and chosen by Chemical & Engineering News as a chemical highlight of the year 2000.
Currently he is collaborating with international research groups and pharmaceutical companies on the development of vaccines against bacteria and fungi with a principle focus on the bacteria N. meningitidis, which causes meningitis. Other key research interests include developing new types of antibiotics against bacteria such as H. pylori, implicated in peptic ulcers, and E. coli which causes urinary tract infections.
Professor Oscarson's research group will move into the Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology (CSCB) in UCD in April 2007 and he will also oversee UCD’s new degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
