Advances in Peptide and Peptidomimetic Design Inspiring Basic Science and Drug Discovery: A Themed Issue Honoring Professor Victor J. Hruby on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday

Dear Colleagues,

Fueled by a wide-ranging, probing curiosity complemented by an energetic, engaging personality and a highly collaborative approach to science, Prof. Victor J. Hruby’s research accomplishments have spanned a staggering breadth of scientific endeavors resulting in well over 1300 publications, numerous patents, and a worldwide reputation as a preeminent scholar.

Victor was born in Valley City, North Dakota and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees with A. William Johnson at the University of North Dakota. He then went to Cornell University for graduate studies with A. T. Blomquist.  After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Hruby joined the Cornell University Medical College as an Instructor, working with Prof. Vincent duVigneaud, Nobel Laureate. He moved to the University of Arizona in 1968 as an Assistant Professor and rose through the academic ranks to be Regents Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1989. He is now Emeritus Regents Professor and has remained very active in both mentoring and collaborative work at the University of Arizona and throughout the world.

Prof. Hruby’s many accomplishments include: (i) the rational design of novel, extensively used and highly cited ligands for opioid, melanocortin, oxytocin, glucagon, and neurokinin receptors; (ii) the development and application of approaches for incorporating conformational constraints into peptides to improve selectivity and bioavailability and to aid elucidation of bioactive conformations; and (iii) key contributions to combinatorial chemistry, and the application of biophysical methods (e.g., NMR, X-ray crystallography, fluorescence, Plasmon waveguide resonance spectroscopy) to the determination of  biomolecular structure and mechanism. 

Molecules is highly pleased to host a Special Issue honoring Prof. Victor J. Hruby on the occasion of his 80th birthday for his outstanding achievements to advance peptide and peptidomimetic design, as well as inspire both basic science and drug discovery.

Prof. Henry Mosberg
Dr. Tomi Sawyer
Prof. Carrie Haskell-Luevano
Guest Editors

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