Research and Graduate Studies @ KU

Mertes remembered Oct. 18 & 19 with lecture, symposium, ceremony

Gregory C. Fu, a professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present the annual Mathias P. Mertes Memorial Lecture on Thursday, October 18, at 4:00 p.m. in 1001 Malott Hall. The topic of his lecture is
"Asymmetric Catalysis with Planar-Chiral Heterocycles.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

The lecture is the first of three events in celebration of the late Matt Mertes, who taught in KU’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry from 1960 until his sudden death in 1989. In honor of what would have been his 75th birthday, a symposium is planned for Friday, October 19, from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the auditorium of the Simons Biosciences Research Laboratories.

Symposium presenters include former Mertes students (Pat Hanna, Christie Brouilette, Chris Bigge and Binghe Wang), Gregory Fu, and Kristin (Mertes) Bowman-James. The symposium fee includes lunch, a reception and dinner, and registration is required.

At 3:30 p.m. on the 19th, the celebration will shift to the nearby Structural Biology Center (SBC), where KU’s 800 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory will be named in honor of Mertes. Poster presentations will also be on display in the SBC, and the reception will be held in the lobby area.