The Brewer/Winkel groups enjoyed a highly rewarding collaboration at Virginia Tech for more than 22 years, combining expertise in inorganic chemistry and molecular biology in an effort to develop novel anti-cancer agents. A remarkable group of graduate students and postdocs, recruited by Dr. Brewer, drove the project forward over the years; this was a special breed of scientists who each contributed new synthetic and analytical technologies, while learning to speak two distinct languages. Dr. Brewer's talent for establishing productive interdisciplinary collaborations, including getting the work into the public domain (from peer-reviewed publications to licensed patents), was publicly recognized with a 2010 Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics (see accompanying photo). The most recent Brewer/Winkel collaboration centered on the work of graduate student, Roberto Padilla, who introduced yet another new area of investigation involving anthracene derivatives of Ru-dpp complexes, and took the project to the level of proteins and cultured human cells. This talk will give a brief overview of the history of the Brewer/Winkel collaboration, culminating with its final project, while endeavoring to convey a sense of Dr. Brewer's unique scientific insights and personal qualities that kept this partnership moving forward for over two decades, and that live on in her many students, postdocs, and colleagues.

Tribute to 22 years of collaboration and friendship across the chemistry/biology interface

251st National Meeting (2016)

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