Bio
Professor, Biodesign
Institute; Affiliated Faculty, Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences
Office: ISTB-5 200-A,
Phone: 480-965-6625
Fax: 480-965-0038
Education
Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1970
Research Areas
Organic, biochemistry
Research and Teaching Interests
Sidney M. Hecht, PhD, is the co-director for the Center for
Bioenergetics in the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.
He researches diseases caused by defects in the body's energy
production processes. Energy production is similar mechanistically to
other molecular processes that he has studied extensively. Hecht
played a key role in the development of Hycamtin, a drug used to treat
ovarian and lung cancer, as well as the study of the mechanism of the
anti-tumor agent bleomycin.
In a career spanning more than three decades, Hecht has held both
academic and industrial research positions. He joins ASU from the
University of Virginia, where he was a professor of both chemistry and
biology. From 1981 to 1987, he concurrently held leadership positions
in research and development for Smith Kline and French Laboratories.
Prior to his 28 years at the University of Virginia, he was a faculty
member at MIT. Hecht is the co-founder of Edison Pharmaceuticals, a
pharmaceutical company focusing on inherited mitochondrial disorders.
He earned a BA in chemistry from the University of Rochester and a PhD
in chemistry with emphasis in biochemistry from the University of Illinois.