John W. Daly – An Appreciation

John W. Daly was engaged in groundbreaking basic research for nearly 50 years at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. A primary focus of his research included the discovery, structure elucidation, synthesis and pharmacology of alkaloids and other biologically active natural products. However, he earned further acclaim in other areas that included the investigation of the structure-activity relationships for agonists/antagonists at adenosine, adrenergic, histamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine receptors. In addition he was a pioneer in studies of the modulation and functional relationships for systems involving calcium, cyclic nucleotides, ion channels and phospholipids and in the mechanism of actions of caffeine and other xanthines.