Vanderbilt University’s F. Peter (Fred) Guengerich, Ph.D., has been named interim editor-in-chief of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC).
Guengerich, the Tadashi Inagami, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry, is one of the world’s most highly cited and productive researchers in biochemistry and pharmacology, with more than 800 publications to his credit.
A former director of the Vanderbilt Center in Molecular Toxicology (1980-2011) and former interim chair of Biochemistry (2010-2012), he has served as associate editor and deputy editor of JBC, and will be interim editor-in-chief while a search for a successor to out going editor Martha Fedor, Ph.D., is conducted.
“We’re fortunate to have Fred Guengerich at the helm of the JBC during this time of change,” said Steven McKnight, Ph.D., president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which publishes the JBC and two other journals.
“He understands the JBC’s history and is dedicated to its success in the future,” McKnight said in statement released last week by the society. “On top of that, he has made tremendous contributions to the field of biochemistry and to the pharmaceutical industry.”
“I’ve been glad to be involved with the JBC for many years,” Guengerich said in the release. “The JBC continues to be a journal run by scientists for scientists.”
During the past 30-plus years, Guengerich and his colleagues have studied how proteins called P450 enzymes metabolize drugs and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens), how carcinogens interact with DNA to form adducts, and how these adducts produce genetic mutations.
He received the Society of Toxicology Merit Award in 2013 in recognition of distinguished achievements to toxicology throughout his career.
