Description
Natural products in the plant and animal kingdom offer a huge diversity of chemical structures that are the result of biosynthetic processes that have been modulated over the millennia through genetic effects. With the rapid developments in spectroscopic techniques and accompanying advances in high-throughput screening techniques, it has become possible to isolate and then determine the structures and biological activity of natural products rapidly, thus opening up exciting new opportunities in the field of new drug development to the pharmaceutical industry. The series also covers the synthesis or testing and recording of the medicinal properties of natural products. Dr. Amitava Dasgupta received his Ph.D degree in Chemistry from Stanford University and received his medical training in Toxicology and Clinical Chemistry from the Laboratory Medicine Department of the University of Washington School Of Medicine at Seattle. He is board certified in both Toxicology and Clinical Chemistry by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry. He is a tenured Full Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center located at the Texas Medical Center at Houston. He is also the Director of Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory of Memorial-Hermann Laboratory Services, the major clinical teaching hospital of the University of Texas. In addition, he is also the Medical Director of Memorial-TIRR Hospital laboratory services. Dr. Dasgupta has published over 235 scientific papers and edited, co-edited, authored or co-authored 20 books including books published by Elsevier. He is on the Editorial Board of five major medical journals including American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Clinica Chimica Acta and Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis. He lectures both nationally and internationally on drug and alcohol testing and acts as an expert witness for the State of Texas for alcohol and drug related criminal prosecutions.
