David Jakeman is an associate professor at Dalhousie University, Halifax,Canada. His research focuses on discovering tools to develop new antibiotic and anticancer drugs using synthetic chemistry, protein engineering and microbrial fermentation. He is a member of the Natural Product  Reports editorial board.

Your lab focuses upon carbohydrate enzymology and medicinal chemistry directed towards novel antibacterial and anticancer agents. Could you put this into layman's terms?

We are interested in designing new carbohydrate-containing molecules as carbohydrates often impart unique biological properties to small molecules.   Many natural products and proteins have carbohydrates attached to them through a process know as glycosylation.   If we can understand how glycosylation occurs we may be able to alter the process and change the way the molecule interacts with biological systems. There are a number of important medicines that are glycosylated and the carbohydrate functionality is crucial for bioactivity 

What projects are you working on at the moment? 

We are designing ways to glycosylate natural drug-like molecules. This can be synthetically challenging, so we are using enzymes to perform this chemistry. Enzymes are the catalysts Nature uses, and by protein engineering you can change the way the enzymes function. As a result different sugars with different stereochemistry and functionalities can be added to the molecules. This has the potential to improve biological properties such as strengthening interactions with a biological target or modifying the metabolism of a molecule.

How did you become involved in medicinal chemistry? 

At the end of my second year of my degree, I was not terribly enthused with chemistry with the exception of one course by Neville Jones on synthesis. In my final year I took a course by Mike Blackburn (who I went on to do a PhD with) on biological chemistry which I found interesting as he provided real world applications of chemistry and what you can do with it, such as making molecules and using it to explain biological processes. That is what we do - we modify enzymes and try to use them to explain what goes on in a particular system. The aim is that you have something which has improved biological activity. 

Having studied in the UK, and worked in both America and Canada what do you think are the main differences between the UK and North America with respect to research and academia?  

As an undergraduate I had no or little appreciation of what it was like to be an academic in the UK, but as a postdoctoral researcher in the US I got an inclination as to what my supervisor (Jeremy Evans, Washington State University) did, and a much greater insight when I was in Canada working with Stephen Withers (University of British Columbia).  

I don't think there are many differences, especially as the UK education system is becoming more like North America in its approach to both undergraduate and graduate training. Many people in the UK are rethinking how their first year courses are taught due to changes in the A-level curriculum.

What advice would you give to a young scientist wanting to pursue a career in science? 

They should volunteer in the lab, the sooner the better, because then they will know at the earliest opportunity whether or not it is something they want to do. I didn't and I wish I had! 

What do you love about your job? 

The people and the flexibility! I can structure my day in any way I choose. Although the downside is that I have a long to-do list which never gets any shorter.
 

Do you remember your first experiment? 

It was probably with a home chemistry set that my parents bought me when I was 11 or 12. After that I remember finding books in the school library on experiments that you can do such as the glycerine and potassium permanganate experiment and seeing school demonstrations such as the reaction of alkali metals in water. Basically I loved anything that burnt/popped/made noise - the standard things that stick in people's minds.

Which historical scientific figure would you most like to have dinner with and why? 

I'd quite like to know Charles Darwin's thoughts on creationism - I think that would make an interesting conversation.

And finally, if you weren't a scientist, what would you be? 

I think I would probably still be a scientist but in a different discipline like marine biology. I think it's one of those things where you see people making TV documentaries like swimming with dolphins in pleasant waters and that seems more appealing than watching bacteria grow in the lab.though I'm sure the reality is much different!