Educational Background:

PhD, Harvard University, 1952 BS, University of Chicago, 1948 PhB, University of Chicago, 1947 PhD (hon), University of G?teborg, Sweden, 1989

Awards:

• National Academy of Sciences • American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Secretary) • American Philosophical Society • National Institutes of Health   Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science • Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences • Alfred P. Sloan Research Foundation • John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation • Research Director, International Centre of Insect   Physiology and Ecology (Nairobi) • President, International Society of Chemical Ecology • American Chemical Society Ernest Guenther Award; • Arthur C. Cope Scholar • Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement   (with Thomas Eisner) • International Society of Chemical Ecology Silver Medal • Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry   in the Public Interest(with Thomas Eisner) • Czech Academy of Sciences Heyrovsky Medal • 2005 American Chemical Society Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry • 2006 Grand Prix, la Maison de la Chimie (with Thomas Eisner)

Research Description:

Chemical ecology deals with the chemical interactions of organisms, interactions that are pervasive at all levels of biological organization, from microbes to humans, and operate in the most diverse biological contexts. Organisms find food and seek out mates on the basis of chemicals, repel their enemies with chemicals, and fend off disease through the use of chemicals. Characterizing the molecules involved, and understanding how they function in nature is fundamental to the understanding of life itself.

Although a considerable number of secondary metabolites have been identified from both animal and plant sources, few have been characterized with regard to their biological functions. Our work therefore involves close collaborations with the group of Thomas Eisner, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Biology at Cornell, and other leading biologists.

Our research has mostly been concerned with the isolation and identification of biologically active compounds from insect and other arthropod sources (particularly spiders). Insects are an amazingly diverse group of animals, with regard to their outward appearance as well as their ways of existing, rivaled in beauty and sophistication only by the structural diversity of their chemistry.

In addition to our arthropod-related work, we have recently begun investigating plant allelochemicals, as well as the pheromone and defensive systems of some amphibian and mammalian species. Knowledge of olfactory signals used by these groups of animals is still extremely limited, although from a biological point of view their reliance on chemical communication is apparent.

For more information on our current research, group members, and recent publications, please visit the Meinwald Group Web Page.

Selected Publications:

Eisner, T.; Meinwald, J. Alkaloid-Derived Pheromones and Sexual Selection in Lepidoptera. Pheromone Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, G. J. Blomquist and R. C. Vogt, Eds., Elsevier Academic Press, London, 2003, pp. 341-368.

Taggi, A.E.; Meinwald, J.; Schroeder, F. A New Approach to Natural Products Discovery Exemplified by the Identification of Sulfated Nucleosides in Spider Venom. J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2004, 126 (33), 10364.

Schroeder, F.C.; Weibel, D.B.; Meinwald, J. Chiral Silylation Reagents: Determining Configuration via NMR-Spectroscopic Coanalysis. Organic Letters, 2004, 6, 3019.

Meinwald, J. Personal Reflections on Receiving the Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry. JOC Perspective, 2005, 70.

Gronquist, M.; Meinwald, J.; Eisner, T.; Schroeder, F. Exploring Uncharted Terrain in Nature's Structure Space Using Capillary NMR Spectroscopy: 13 Steroids from 50 Fireflies. JACS 2005, 127 (31), 10810.