The inaugural Stairs Lecture in Chemistry took place Thursday, October 21st with Dr. John C. Vederas’ thought-provoking lecture entitled “Drugs From Bugs and Other Natural Sources – An Endless Frontier or is the Bloom Off the Rose?” 

Professor Vederas is an internationally-recognized, highly decorated professor of chemistry from the University of Alberta. His cutting edge research in natural product chemistry attempts to utilize existing biological systems for the discovery and production of medicinal compounds.  Prof. Vederas has received multiple awards for his excellence in teaching, having graduated 44 Ph.D. students, 8 M.Sc. students, more than 60 post doctoral fellows and countless undergraduates.

The evening began with the presentation of a small gift to Dr. Robert Stairs, the benefactor of the endowed lecture series and a legend of Trent’s Department of Chemistry.  Professor Stairs has a long list of accomplishments including serving multiple deployments in the Canadian Navy during World War 2, and an endless list of academic accomplishments at universities such as McGill, Western, Cornell, Queens, and as the first professor of chemistry here at Trent.

Prof. Vederas presented a wonderful lecture, which would have catered to people of almost any discipline. The business of drugs and human health, as presented by Prof. Vederas, are topics that perfectly illuminate the crossroads between science, social science, economics, and politics, thus demonstrating the need for interdisciplinary understanding and solutions. 

Prof. Vederas’ view of the modern pharmaceutical model paints a picture in which “blockbuster drugs” (drugs that treat symptoms and must be taken continuously) dominate the market because they are far more profitable than traditional drugs, which treat the underlying condition. Because of the state of the pharmaceutical industry, Prof. Vederas believes that the future of drug discovery lies in the academic setting and with smaller biotech companies willing to take on the risk.

The “bleak” picture presented in the first half of the lecture was contrasted during the second half when advancements in the science of pharmaceuticals were presented.

According to Prof. Vederas, the last five years have presented promising advances in chemistry and biology of the drug industry.  Modern DNA and molecular biology techniques are providing greater opportunity and efficiency for the investigation of organisms for useful compounds. One of the major road blocks for natural pharmaceutical products in the near future will be finding cost effective methods of production, most likely finding or modifying microorganisms to produce the compounds.  Automation and recently developed chemical techniques are also providing a more effective system for the synthesis isolation and analysis of new and existing compounds.

The Stairs Lecture in Chemistry, the first endowed lecture series in Chemistry at Trent University, was created by Trent Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert Stairs and his wife, Sibyl. The lecture series enables Trent to invite a distinguished scientist to speak on his or her research and to showcase the field of Chemistry.