As wildfires become more commonplace across the globe, one question is how the secondary metabolites produced as a by-product of the fires alters taste profiles or sensory perception of foods and beverages. Phil Crews and Paul Dorenbach were recently interviewed following their recent article on wildfire taint of wines, how it can impact the wine industry, and what is the chemistry behind wine taint.

Dominik Popowski is an ASP member and a graduate student in the Department of Pharmacognosy and Molecular Basis of Phytotherapy, Medical University of Warsaw. Popowski put us in touch with Professor Oleh Koshovyi from the Department of Pharmacognosy at the National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and we received Koshovyi’s detailed comments on March 21. Their personal accounts of the war are stark reminders of the deep impact of international conflicts. Gordon Cragg and Edward Kennelly edited the articles for clarity and content.

A highly successful Summer Research Fellowship (SRF) program was launched in 2021 and will be offered again in 2022 with a March 15 deadline. This innovative ASP-sponsored program offers a 2.5-month stipend to enable students to engage in research experiences under a mentor in the natural product sciences.

Erin Conley interviews Dr. Leslie Hicks and PhD candidate Kevin Culver (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) about their work on ghost peppers and potential antimicrobial peptides. The ghost pepper, one of the hottest ever grown, produced two novel antimicrobial peptides which were characterized by the lab. Erin also dives into the lab’s culture, working outside of academia, and the lab mascot.