Biography
2022-Present 2007-2022 1991-2007 1988-1991 1982-1988 1980-1982 1976-1979 1972-1976	Emeritus University Distinguished Professor University Distinguished Professor Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University Ph.D., Southern Illinois University of Carbondale B.S., Kyoto University

Research Overview

Our research interest includes: (i) bimetallic nanoclusters in catalytic asymmetric oxidation reactions for organic synthesis; (ii) development of electronic biosensors in the profiling of overexpressed proteases for early detection of triple-negative breast cancer; and (iii) synthesis, mechanistic study and bio-evaluation of anti-Alzheimer molecules.

Our recent discovery of bimetallic nanocluster-mediated enantioselective oxidation of alcohols, alkanes, and alkenes along with C-C bond forming reaction has opened new directions for the synthesis of chiral molecules. Biologically active small molecules have been discovered by our collaborators’ and my research groups.

Five Selected Publications

1. Synthesis of cyclododeciptycene quinones. Kaiyan Lou, Allan M. Prior, Bernard Wiredu, John Desper, and Duy H. Hua. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 17635-17641. Doi: 10.1021/ja1088309.

2. Inhibition of Acyl-CoA: Cholesterol Acyltransferase (ACAT), Overexpression of Cholesterol Transporter Gene, and Protection of Amyloid b(Ab) Oligomers-Induced Neuronal Cell Death by Tricyclic Pyrone Molecules. Laxman Pokhrel, Izumi Maezawa, Thi D. T. Nguyen, Kyeong-Ok Chang, Lee-Way Jin, and Duy H. Hua. J. Med. Chem. 2012, 55(20), 8969-8973; http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jm3012189.

3. Modulation of mitochondrial complex I activity averts cognitive decline in multiple animal models of familial Alzheimer's Disease. Liang Zhang, Song Zhang, Izumi Maezawa, Sergey Trushin, Paras Minhas, Matthew Pinto, Lee-Way Jin, Keshar Prasain, Thi D. T. Nguyen, Yu Yamazaki, TakahisaKanekiyo, Guojun Bu, Ben Gateno, Kyeong-Ok Chang, Karl A. Nath, Emirhan Nemutlu, Petras Dzeja, Yuan-PingPang, Duy H. Hua, and Eugenia Trushina. EBioMedicine 2015, 2, 294-305; doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.03.009.

4. Chiral Substituted Poly-N-vinylpyrrolidinones and Bimetallic Nanoclusters in Catalytic Asymmetric Oxidation Reactions. Bo Hao, Medha J. Gunaratna, Man Zhang, Sahani Weerasekara, Sarah N. Seiwald, Vu T. Nguyen, Alex Meier, and Duy H. Hua. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 16839-16848, DOI:10.1021/jacs.6b12113.

5. The anti-Aband neuroprotective properties of a novel tricyclic pyrone molecule. Izumi Maezawa, Bende Zou, Jacopo Di Lucente, William S. Cao, Conrado Pascual, Sahani Weerasekara, Man Zhang, Xinmin Simon Xie, Duy H. Hua, and Lee-Way Jin. Journal Alzheimer’s Disease, 2017, 58, 559-574.