Victor J. Hruby, Ph.D.
Regents Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Professor Emeritus, Arizona Research Laboratories
Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience

Department of Chemistry

Old Chemistry 215
P.O. Box 210041
Tucson, AZ 85721-0041

Phone: 621-6332
E-mail: hruby@u.arizona.edu

EDUCATION:

B.S. 1960, University of North Dakota

M.S. 1962, University of North Dakota

Ph.D. 1965, Cornell University

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Our research group is interested in the design, synthesis, analysis, conformations, dynamics and structure-biological activity relationships of biologically active peptides and peptide mimetics with special interests in hormones and neurotransmitters that affect human behavior. We are interested in the rational design of antihormones (inhibitors) based on conformation, in hormone and neurotransmitter receptors, in brain chemistry, in the design and asymmetric synthesis of conformationally constrained amino acids, peptides and peptide mimetics, and in the use of NMR and other physical methods to examine peptide and peptidomimetic conformations. We seek to understand the physical-chemical basis for information transfer for these important molecules in biological systems, and utilize synthetic organic chemistry, structural chemistry, bio-organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and biology to examine the relationships of structure to information transduction.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Mayorov AV. Cai M. Chandler KB. Petrov RR. Van Scoy AR. Yu Z. Tanaka DK. Trivedi D. Hruby VJ. Development of cyclic gamma-MSH analogues with selective hMC3R agonist and hMC3R/hMC5R antagonist activities. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 49(6):1946-52, 2006

Lee YS. Agnes RS. Badghisi H. Davis P. Ma SW. Lai J. Porreca F. Hruby VJ. Design and synthesis of novel hydrazide-linked bifunctional peptides as delta/mu opioid receptor agonists and CCK-1/CCK-2 receptor antagonists. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 49(5):1773-80, 2006

Mollica A. Davis P. Ma SW. Porreca F. Lai J. Hruby VJ. Synthesis and biological activity of the first cyclic biphalin analogues. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters. 16(2):367-72, 2006

Cai M. Mayorov AV. Ying J. Stankova M. Trivedi D. Cabello C. Hruby VJ. Design of novel melanotropin agonists and antagonists with high potency and selectivity for human melanocortin receptors. Peptides. 26(8):1481-5, 2005