Tony Durst

Dr. Durst’s group is mainly involved in the isolation and evaluation of natural products of medicinal interest from plants native to mainly Central America, especially Costa Rica. Active compounds are dealt with as lead structures and are chemically modified to try to improve activity. We are currently focusing on an anti-anxiety compound, anti-fungal agents and have identified an agent with activity against Type II diabetes. This work is interdisciplinary and is carried out jointly with Prof. J.T. Arnason (Department of Biology). We have designed and are synthesizing mimics of estrogen and estradiol that cannot be converted into the dangerous ortho-quinones which are thought to be responsible for the estrogen induced breast cancers. This work is carried out jointly with Prof. J. Wright, (Department of Chemistry, and Carleton University)