Medicinal Chemistry
Robert Cichewicz
Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, and John Searle Professor, College of Pharmacy
College of Pharmacy
428 Church St
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1065
4002A Pharm
Role Overview and Bio
Robert Cichewicz received his BS degrees in Anthropology and Biology from Grand Valley State University, an MS degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and a PhD in Natural Products Chemistry/Horticulture from Michigan State University. His research and teaching focus on the translational applications of natural products and nature-inspired biomolecules from fungi and animals. He is the principal investigator for the Biomolecule Innovations Team in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan, which focuses on identifying small-molecule and peptide solutions for unmet medical needs related to infectious diseases and other therapeutic areas.
Research Interests
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Natural products drug discovery and development (special interests in antifungal and antiparasitic biomolecules)
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Fungi and their metabolites: structure determination, metabolomics, and biological activities
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Nature-inspired peptidic biomolecules: synthesis, medicinal chemistry, and therapeutic applications
Selected Publications
Collins JE, Jiang T, Lee JW, Wendt K, Nardella F, Jeon J, Paes R, Santos NM, Rocamora F, Chang M, Schaefer S, Cichewicz RH, Winzeler EA, Chakrabarti D. Understanding the Antiplasmodial Action of Resistance-Refractory Xanthoquinodin A1. ACS Infect Dis. 2024 Jun 14;10(6):2276-2287. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00232. Epub 2024 May 29. PMID: 38810215; PMCID: PMC11533362.
Collins JE, Lee JW, Rocamora F, Saggu GS, Wendt KL, Pasaje CFA, Smick S, Santos NM, Paes R, Jiang T, Mittal N, Luth MR, Chin T, Chang H, McLellan JL, Morales-Hernandez B, Hanson KK, Niles JC, Desai SA, Winzeler EA, Cichewicz RH, Chakrabarti D. Antiplasmodial peptaibols act through membrane directed mechanisms. Cell Chem Biol. 2024 Feb 15;31(2):312-325.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2023.10.025. Epub 2023 Nov 22. PMID: 37995692; PMCID: PMC10923054.
Du L, Haldar S, King JB, Mattes AO, Srivastava S, Wendt KL, You J, Cunningham C, Cichewicz RH. Persephacin Is a Broad-Spectrum Antifungal Aureobasidin Metabolite That Overcomes Intrinsic Resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus. J Nat Prod. 2023 Aug 25;86(8):1980-1993. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.3c00382. Epub 2023 Jul 31. PMID: 37523665.
Kil YS, You J, Wendt KL, King JB, Cichewicz RH. Resolving a Natural Product Cold Case: Elucidation of Fusapyrone Structure and Absolute Configuration and Demonstration of Their Fungal Biofilm Disrupting Properties. J Org Chem. 2023 Jul 7;88(13):9167-9186. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c00765. Epub 2023 Jun 21. PMID: 37343240.
Lee JW, Collins JE, Hulverson MA, Aguila LKT, Kim CM, Wendt KL, Chakrabarti D, Ojo KK, Wood GE, Van Voorhis WC, Cichewicz RH. Appraisal of Fungus-Derived Xanthoquinodins as Broad-Spectrum Anti-Infectives Targeting Phylogenetically Diverse Human Pathogens. J Nat Prod. 2023 Jun 23;86(6):1596-1605. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.3c00283. Epub 2023 Jun 5. PMID: 37276438; PMCID: PMC10797637.
Anderson VM, Wendt KL, Caughron JB, Matlock HP, Rangu N, Najar FZ, Miller AN, Luttenton MR, Cichewicz RH. Assessing Microbial Metabolic and Biological Diversity to Inform Natural Product Library Assembly. J Nat Prod. 2022 Apr 22;85(4):1079-1088. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c01197. Epub 2022 Apr 13. PMID: 35416663.