SFU Chem Graduate Places Second in SFU Science Faculty’s 3 minute Thesis Competition

Damian Szymor-Pietrzak was awarded 2^nd place in the 2023 Faculty of Science 3 minute thesis competition with his talk titled “From Corals to Medicines: Eleutherobin and The Total Synthesis of Natural Products”

During the competition, Damian presented on his research, which is focused on the natural product, Eleutherobin. First isolated from various species of soft coral, this compound has been found effective at killing lung, kidney, and ovarian cancer cells. As a promising new chemotherapeutic drug, Damian has been working hard at developing an efficient method to produce Eleutherobin that would eliminate the need to directly extract the compound from vulnerable ecosystems. Once such a method has been established, new avenues for research into the anti-cancer properties of Eleutherobin and its anologues will be available to chemists.