Rodney Croteau
Institute of Biological Chemistry
Rodney Croteau is working to create a sustainable, affordable supply of Taxol, a power cancer-fighting drug derived from a scarce and dwindling source. Pharmaceutical products like Taxol and other taxanes suppress cell division, making them important for the treatment of cancer and other intractable diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and polycystic kidney disease.
Taxol is extracted from the bark of the Pacific Yew. More than three tons of bark must be stripped from 1,000 to 2,000 slow-growing trees to produce a single pound of the drug. For the past 15 to 20 years, finding a viable supply of Taxol–independent of natural forests or orchards–has been one of the highest priorities in medical research.
In 1991 the National Institutes of Health awarded Professor Croteau his first in a series of grants to trace Taxol’s genetic pathway using cell cultures from the Yew tree. His findings may enable scientists to produce a synthetic version of the drug. In 2005, the WSU Research Foundation (WSURF) signed an agreement allowing Professor Croteau’s discoveries to be used for commercial production of Taxol-related drugs. The potential benefits are vast. Production of a synthetic Taxol would help the environment by preserving Yew trees. Moreover, it would make life-saving drugs more consistently available at a price more patients can afford.
Biography
Rod Croteau began his work at the University in 1972 as a postdoctoral fellow and joined the faculty in 1974. One of the early faculty members of IBC, Croteau served as institute director from 1986 to 1989.
He currently serves on the editorial boards of four journals, and has served on proposal review panels at the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and the United States Department of Agriculture.
Croteau has published well over 300 papers and received 15 patents, with several more pending. Some 40 students have earned graduate degrees working with him, and his nearly 100 former postdoctorals and students are in prestigious positions around the world. His laboratory employs more than 25 students, postdoctorals, and a core group of technicians and scientific associates. Croteau, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed an NIH
Postdoctoral Research
Fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University from 1970 to 1972.
Awards and Honors
- Two MERIT awards from the National Institutes of Health
- 2003 Eminent Faculty Award, Washington State University
- Eisig-Tode Distinguished Professor of Forest Biotechnology
- 1997 Member, National Academy of Sciences
- 1992 Faculty Excellence Award for Research and Creative Activity
- 1990 Senior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research
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Rod Croteau's work on the biosynthesis of Taxol®, an
important anticancer drug, has brought hope to cancer
patients.