Rex Pratt |
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| 1959-1968
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Rex
Pratt received his undergraduate and graduate education in Melbourne,
Australia where his training was in physical organic chemistry. After
two years at the University of California, Santa Barbara with Professor
Thomas C. Bruice, he received an I.C.I. Fellowship to work with Dr. Gordon
Lowe at Oxford University. It was here that he developed in interest in
protein chemistry and enzymology. His research on enzymes that attack
antibiotics attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry, since
the problem of bacterial resistance to penicillin is growing. Antibiotic
resistance to the beta-lactamase enzymes has been a major focus of his
research. He works to find substances that protect antibiotics and explore
the chemistry behind the process. In 1976 he discovered the first
synthetic inhibitor of beta-lactamases, bromopenicillanic acid. By
locating this enzyme's active site, he learned how it functions and how
its action might be blocked. Pratt patented bromopenicillanic acid in
1980.
Lately Pratt has branched to another class of antibiotics, the
cephalosporins. He publishes an average of five papers a year in
peer-reviewed scientific journals and his research has been consistently
funded since he came to Wesleyan. He has been an active member of the
Chemistry Department, serving as Chair from 1993-1995, and working on many
department committees. In 2000, Pratt was named the honorary Beach
Professor of Chemistry. |
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