Phillip O. Crews
| Phillip O. Crews | |
|---|---|
| Professor Phil CrewsProfessorPhilCrews.jpg | |
| Born | August 15, 1943 Urbana, Illinois, U.S. |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| 💼 Occupation | Chemist |
| 📆 Years active | 1969–present |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Peggy Crews |
Phillip O. Crews (born August 15, 1943) is an African American chemist at UCSC noted for his work in both marine natural products chemistry and diversity education in chemistry[1]. He has had numerous awards and honors, such as President of the American Society of Pharmacognosy[2], N.R. Farnsworth research achievement award[2], AAAS fellow[3], UCSC Excellent through Diversity Award[4], ACS Project Seed recognition of service award, and had a special issue of the Journal of Natural Products (2017) in his honor[5]. He owns Pelican Ranch Winery[6] with his wife Peggy since 1997.
Early Life
Dr. Crews was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and lived in Chicago until the family moved to Palo Alto in the 1950’s. Dr. Crews attended Wilbur Junior High School and then Cubberley High School. He next attended UCLA, where he received a BS in chemistry and wrote the senior thesis: “Coupling constant mechanisms in 1H NMR”. He then received a PhD in chemistry at UCSB under Assistant Professor Dominic J. Bertelli with a thesis titled “Chemistry of non-benzenoid aromatics”. Dr. Crews then wrote and was awarded an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to investigate the stereochemistry of organo-metalloids at Princeton University with the late Prof. Kurt Mislow.
Research
In 1971, Dr. Crews obtained a position in the chemistry department at UCSC, where he began his research career investigating physical organic chemistry[1]. In 1973 he shifted his research program towards the nascent area of marine natural products chemistry as an untenured Assistant Professor.
Dr. Crews uses bioassay-guided isolation to discover natural products that may help treat or cure human diseases, incorporating elements of structure elucidation and employing state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques[7]. He became especially interested in the molecular structures of the psymberins and the bengamides, molecules isolated from Indo-Pacific sponges[5]. Psymberin is one of his most important discoveries because of its potential for further development to treat solid tumor cancers. The mixed NRPS-PKS biosynthetic product comes from the marine sponge Psammocinia aff. Bulbosa. Dr. Crews research on psymberin has stimulated almost 100 studies and publications by other laboratories. Another molecule of importance is bengamide B, that led to an anti-cancer Phase I clinical trial on a close analog[5].
In addition to these two molecules, Dr. Crews has discovered many small molecule tools derived from marine sponges, some of which are used worldwide by research teams as molecular probes. These small molecules include the actin inhibitors, jasplakinolide and latrunculin, the Mitochondrial Complex I inhibitor, mycothiazole, the human methionine aminopeptidase inhibitor, and fascaplysins, an opioid receptor agonist.
Dr. Crews led and co-authored of the widely-used textbook, “Organic Structure Analysis”.[8], along with Marcel Jaspars and Jaime Rodriguez. The first edition was published by Oxford University Press in 1998 and with the second edition being published in 2009. Crews' goal was to highlight the intense complexity of spectroscopic analysis of natural products, from which the “Crews rule” emerged. The “Crews rule” states that if a molecule’s ratio of hydrogens to carbons is less than 1, then additional measures should be performed to confirm the structure[5]
Diversity and outreach
Dr. Crews has participated and led in numerous outreach programs, including running the NIH-supported ACCESS program[9] for the past 27 years. This program helps first-generation and under-represented students from 2-year community colleges transition to 4-year university by giving them access to cutting edge research and building their confidence to continue in careers in science. His dedication to diversity and inclusion was recognized with UCSC's 2004 Excellence through Diversity Award[4].
In 2021, the UCSC chemistry department established the Phillip Crews symposium, "Powered by Chemistry, Strengthened by Diversity"[10] and student fellowship in recognition of his enduring contributions to diversity in chemistry. The symposium will invite well known under-represented chemists to discuss their research and highlight how diversity strengthened their science. In addition, a fellowship will be awarded to accomplished undergraduate scientists to allow them to do laboratory research.
Winery
In Crews’ early days in academia, Dr. Crews wanted to add a new dimension to chemical education at UCSC by contributing to the general education curriculum. He therefore launched of a new course, “Chemistry of wine - Introductory lecture-laboratory course for non-chemistry students”[11] as well as other lectures such as Wines & winemaking Merging Chemistry Fundamentals and Sensory Evaluation Outcomes to Gain a 21st Century Perspective at Cabrillo College[7]. This coursework, as well as his keen interest in wine, lead him to found Pelican Ranch Winery[12] with his wife Peggy (BW CA-W-3444) in 1997. Dr. Crews is the winemaker, specializing in Burgundian and Rhone style wines from select California Coastal vineyards. In 2020, the winery produced over 10,000 bottles of wine.
Awards and Honors
• 2020 Honorary Advisory Board Member the Journal of Natural Products[13]
• 2017 Special Issue of Journal Natural Products in Honor of Professor Phil Crews[5]
• 2017 Keynote Speaker at the 10th World Sponge Conference at NUI Galway, Ireland[14]
• 2016 Lillian L.Y. Wang Lin Endowed Lecturer in Chemistry
• 2015 Edward A. Dickson Endowed Professorship award[15]
• 2015 Board Member American Society of Pharmacognosy Foundation[2]
• 2014 American Society of Pharmacognosy President & Vice President[2]
• 2012 American Society of Pharmacognosy Fellow[2]
• 2012 Keynote lecturer, Ross Distinguished Lectures series, Dartmouth College
• 2012 Keynote lecturer, Distinguished Lecturer Colorado State University, Colorado Center for Drug Discovery
• 2009 Outstanding Faculty Award for the UC Santa Cruz Division of Physical and Biological Sciences[16]
• 2008 Norman R Farnsworth American Society of Pharmacognosy Research Achievement Award[2]
• 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow[3]
• 2008 Chair, Gordon Research Conference-Marine Natural Products, Ventura Beach, CA[17]
• 2005 Arthur E. Schwarting Award, Journal of Natural Products[18]
• 2004 The UCSC Excellence Through Diversity Award[4]
• 2003 ACS Project Seed Recognition of Service Award
• 1990 National Cooperative Drug Discovery Group (NCDDG) award[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Phillip O. Crews - Blackpast". January 29, 2007. Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Past Presidents of the ASP - The American Society of Pharmacognosy". Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stephens, Tim (December 17, 2008). "Three UCSC professors elected AAAS Fellows". Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Donahue, Louise (June 24, 2004). "Awards honor 'excellence through diversity'". Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Cichewicz, Robert H.; Cragg, Gordon M.; Linington, Roger G.; Wright, Amy E. (2017). "Special Issue in Honor of Professor Phil Crews - ACS". Journal of Natural Products. 80 (3): 579–581. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00161. PMID 28335607. Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Pelican Ranch Winery | Premium Wines". Retrieved 2021-08-12.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Wines & winemaking Merging Chemistry Fundamentals and Sensory Evaluation Outcomes to Gain a 21st Century Perspective". Retrieved September 7, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Organic Structure Analysis - Hardcover - Phillip Crews; Jaime Rodriguez; Marcel Jaspars - Oxford University Press". global.oup.com. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
- ↑ "A C C E S S :: Home". access.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
- ↑ "Phillip Crews Symposium: Powered by Chemistry, Strengthened by Diversity". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Crews, Phillip (1977). "The Chemistry of Wine. An Introductory Lecture--Laboratory Course for Nonchemistry Students". Journal of Chemical Education. 54 (10): 630. Bibcode:1977JChEd..54..630C. doi:10.1021/ED054P630. Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Pelican Ranch Winery | Premium Wines". Retrieved 2021-08-12.
- ↑ "Editors & Editorial Board - ACS Publications". Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "2017 - 10th World Sponge Conference, June 25-30". Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Stephens, Tim (August 19, 2015). "Dickson Emeriti Professorship awarded to chemist Phil Crews".
- ↑ Strain, Daniel (November 8, 2009). "Chemistry professor Phil Crews receives outstanding faculty award". Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ↑ "2008 Marine Natural Products Conference GRC". Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Faculty Honors and Awards - UC Santa Cruz - Chemistry". Retrieved August 13, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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