Rate My Professor Stephen Bergmeier

Stephen C. Bergmeier is Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ohio University, a position he has held as part of his faculty appointment since August 2000. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Bergmeier's research program emphasizes organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry at the interface of chemistry and biology. His laboratory develops new synthetic methods for heterocyclic rings, designs novel anticancer agents targeting glucose uptake, and creates anti-infective therapies modulating RNA transcription via the T-box riboswitch. Additional efforts explore aziridine ring-opening reactions to access diverse heteroatom-substituted carbocycles and parallel synthesis strategies for drug discovery.

Bergmeier collaborates closely with Ohio University colleagues, including Prof. Xiaozhuo Chen on glucose transporter inhibitors that selectively block basal glucose uptake in cancer cells to induce growth arrest and apoptosis, and Prof. Jennifer V. Hines on oxazolidinone-based T-box riboswitch modulators guided by molecular modeling and NMR. Key publications include "Development of a method for the synthesis of 4-aryl functionalized 2-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octanes" (Synthesis, 2017), "A synthesis of hexahydro H-oxazolo[3,4-a]pyrazin-3-ones from fused aziridines" (Heterocycles, 2016), "Factors that influence T box riboswitch efficacy and tRNA affinity" (Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2015), "A small-molecule inhibitor of glucose transporter 1 downregulates glycolysis, induces cell-cycle arrest, and inhibits cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo" (Mol. Cancer Ther., 2012), "Fused ring aziridines as a facile entry into triazole fused tricyclic and bicyclic heterocycles" (Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012), and "Small compound inhibitors of basal glucose transport inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in cancer cells via glucose-deprivation-like mechanisms" (Cancer Lett., 2010). He has obtained National Science Foundation funding for research instrumentation supporting interdisciplinary teams and participated in projects identifying promising therapeutic compounds. With over 4,800 citations, his work has notable impact in synthetic and medicinal chemistry. Bergmeier contributes to Molecular & Cellular Biology and Biomedical Engineering programs.