Ulf Peters

Vordiplom, Humboldt University; M.S., The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Small Molecules as Probes for Cell Division and Intracellular Transport
presented by Tarun Kapoor

When Ulf joined my lab he told me that he wanted to figure out exactly how a drug works, one of the most challenging problems at the interface of chemistry and biomedical research. I soon learned that Ulf is fearless, hardworking and brilliant. He is also one of the most strong-willed individuals I know. He decides what to do and when to do it. Not much can change his mind. If it is December and a sunny day, and Ulf decides it should be warm, he wears shorts and sandals, ignoring wind chill, heckles or advice.

In the course of his graduate work, Ulf developed a strategy to discover new drug-like chemicals. Using this approach, he identified a chemical that inhibits a protein whose function goes awry in cancer cells. He examined, at the limit of what can be resolved by a light microscope, precisely what happens in a single cancer cell treated with this drug-like chemical. His work provided insight into how certain molecularly targeted therapeutics, currently in clinical trials, may induce cancer cells to die. At several steps during this work, Ulf’s iron will overcame disappointments, driving him to make new and important discoveries. Ulf has been an extraordinary graduate student who has become a great friend of mine. I am going to miss him.