U.VA. CHEMIST SIDNEY M. HECHT IS NAMED
	VIRGINIA'S OUTSTANDING SCIENTIST

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 29 -- Sidney M. Hecht, a
University of Virginia chemistry professor whose research on
cancer-fighting drugs may help improve their effectiveness, was
today named Virginia's Outstanding Scientist of 1996 by the
Commonwealth and the Science Museum of Virginia.
	Hecht was honored by the General Assembly at the State
Capitol in Richmond at noon today, along with three others in the
fields of science and industry.  They are retired Newport News
executive Shin-Ichiro Nagashima, who was named Virginia's
Outstanding Industrialist; and Virginia Commonwealth University
professor of microbiology and immunology S. Gaylen Bradley, and Del.
Joe T. May, a Northern Virginian entrepreneur, both of whom received
Life Achievement Awards.
	Hecht was cited for his significant contributions to the
search for more effective cancer therapies and, in particular, for
his study of bleomycin, a potent anti-tumor drug derived from a
soil-dwelling microorganism.
	Like many cancer drugs, bleomycin works by disrupting the
DNA within a cell's nucleus.  This halts cell division and kills the
cell.  However, bleomycin and other anti-cancer drugs kill any
growing cell and so both cancerous and normal cells may be targeted
for destruction.  Hecht and his colleagues are seeking ways to
improve the specificity of bleomycin, so that it attacks only
cancerous cells.
	In a recent finding, Hecht, who is the John W. Mallet
Professor of Chemistry and professor of biology, observed that
bleomycin cuts up cellular RNA as well as DNA.  This is significant
because RNA, unlike DNA, is present outside of the cell's nucleus
and thus is more vulnerable to drug attack.  Hecht also recently
reported that bleomycin cuts RNA at fewer sites than DNA.  The
relative rarity of these sites might permit chemists to design drugs
that would zero in on these points alone, increasing the likelihood
that tumor cells alone would be destroyed.
	This latest work was made possible by an earlier achievement
of Hecht's.  In 1982, he accomplished the complete synthesis of
bleomycin.  Prior to this breakthrough, bleomycin was available only
in minuscule quantities through fermentation of the microorganism
Streptomyces verticillus.  Larger amounts of bleomycin enabled the
scientists both to analyze the actions of bleomycin itself and to
form analogs, or variations, of the drug that could have better
anti-cancer activity.
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February 28, 1996
	REPORTERS AND EDITORS:  For interviews about his work with
bleomycin and other anti-cancer agents, including one awaiting FDA
approval for use against ovarian cancer, Hecht may be reached at
(804) 924-3344.