Daniel May
As an undergraduate student, I attended a small liberal arts college similar to Washington College so that I could obtain an interdisciplinary education. While taking my intro chemistry courses, I struggled to connect the abstract concepts I was learning to the natural world around me. It wasn’t until I took a Chemistry of Medicinal Plants course that I began to fully appreciate the importance of basic chemistry concepts and how they applied to the topics I was most interested in. I love teaching because I can help undergraduate students make similar connections and discover a passion for chemistry in the topics they find most interesting. Teaching at Washington College allows me to communicate one-on-one with my students and provide the type of interdisciplinary and personalized education I received during my undergraduate studies.
Education
- Ph.D., Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2018
- B. S., Major: Biology, Minor: Chemistry, Alma College, 2013
Academic Expertise
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Drug Discovery from
- Chemical Ecology
- Biochemistry
I am a natural product chemist, which means I focus on discovering new drugs from natural sources. The compounds made by bacteria, fungi, and plants already provide us with many of our common medicines and there is still so much to be explored! I also study how these compounds are biosynthesized and the effects these potential drugs have on other organisms.
Additional Information
- Merocyclophanes C and D from the Cultured Freshwater Cyanobacterium
- Ribocyclophanes A–E, Glycosylated Cyclophanes with Antiproliferative Activity from Two Cultured Terrestrial Cyanobacteria
- 15N Stable Isotope Labeling and Comparative Metabolomics Facilitates Genome Mining in Cultured Cyanobacteria
- Burkholderia from Fungus Gardens of Fungus-Growing Ants Produces Antifungals That Inhibit the Specialized Parasite Escovopsis
- Pollen Streptomyces Produce Antibiotic That Inhibits the Honey Bee Pathogen Paenibacillus
larvae
- A Sticky Situation: Fighting American Foulbrood with Natural Products from the Beehive, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Chemistry Department Seminar, October 28,2022
- Chemical Weapons in Escovopsis, The Fungal Parasite of Fungus-Growing Ants, American Society of Pharmacognosy Younger Members Symposium, August 11-13, 2020
- Matching Biosynthetic Gene Clusters to Their Natural Products in Cyanobacteria, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, August 12-16, 2018
- Secondary Metabolites from Freshwater Cyanobacteria: Structure Elucidation, Biosynthesis, and Bioactivity of Merocyclophanes C and D, MIKI Medicinal Chemistry Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 7-9, 2017
- A Bioinformatic and Metabolomic Strategy to Discover Natural Products from Cyanobacteria, Alma College Life Sciences Seminar Series, Alma, Michigan, November 30, 2017
I've always loved learning about the interconnectedness of nature. As an undergraduate student, I attended a small liberal arts college similar to Washington College so that I could obtain an interdisciplinary education. While taking my intro chemistry courses, I struggled to connect the abstract concepts I was learning to the natural world around me. It wasn't until I took a Chemistry of Medicinal Plants course that I began to fully appreciate the importance of basic chemistry concepts and how they applied to the topics I was most interested in. I love teaching because I can help undergraduate students make similar connections and discover a passion for chemistry in the topics they find most interesting. I believe that teaching students to critically read and understand scientific literature is essential so they can explore what piques their curiosity. Teaching at Washington College also allows me to communicate one-on-one with my students and provide the type of interdisciplinary and personalized education I received during my undergraduate studies.
My research area, natural products chemistry, is highly interdisciplinary and encompasses a wide range of topics in chemistry and biology. Natural product researchers strive to discover new compounds from nature and find ways they can be used as medicine or agricultural products. As a natural product chemist, I study the drug-like molecules produced by bacteria found in honeybee hives and native bee nests. Student researchers in the May Lab use chemical and biological techniques to discover and study compounds that could be used to treat brood diseases in honeybees. This research will help to improve the health of essential pollinators and to conserve our native bee species.
I love talking with students about my research and am always looking for new students to join my lab for either semester or summer research. If you are interested in learning more about natural products research or joining the lab, please email me to schedule a meeting!
The May Lab is located in Toll Science Center in room S218. We have shakers, thermocyclers, a centrifuge, fume hoods, a vacuum manifold, and will be obtaining an HPLC for natural product isolation. Across the hall, we have access to an NMR spectrometer, a mass spectrometer, and rotary evaporators.
