TSRI Faculty Interests

Chemical Synthesis

Baran, Phil  
explores new avenues for the efficient and practical construction of organic molecules, both naturally occurring and man-made, by pursuing longstanding synthetic challenges and by designing methods of broad utility.

Barbas III, Carlos  
designs zinc finger protein-based transcription factors for the directed regulation of gene expression and gene discovery; programs complex reaction mechanisms into antibodies and uses them to treat cancer; develops new approaches to catalytic asymmetric synthesis; and uses phage display methods to evolve antibodies with the potential to become new immunotherapeutic and gene therapeutic approaches to diseases like breast and ovarian cancer, melanoma, and AIDS.

Boger, Dale  
works on the total synthesis of biologically active natural products using the tools of organic synthesis to identify, imitate, understand, exploit, and sometimes surpass what nature provides.

Dawson, Philip  
develops novel chemical ligation methodologies for the synthesis of natural and chemically engineered proteins to develop novel peptide based vaccines for HIV-1, study the molecular basis of protein folding and enzymatic catalysis, conjugate biological macromolecules to in complex systems such as cells, viruses and Quantum Dots and to develop synthetic protein pharmaceuticals.

Ding, Sheng  
is applying arrayed large-scale chemical, cDNA, and siRNA libraries and novel high throughput cellular screens to identify and characterize small molecules and genes that can control stem cell fate in various embryonic and adult stem cell systems and modulate specific signaling pathways in development and regeneration.

Finn, M.G.  
uses viruses as building blocks for biologically active structures, diagnostic agents, immunogenic platforms, and drug delivery vehicles; and also develops new bioconjugation methods, enzyme inhibitors, and functional materials using "click chemistry," and studies organic and organometallic reaction mechanisms.

Fokin, Valery  
develops preactical catalytic transformations for organic synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, chemical biology, and materials research; searches for novel antiviral agents, nicotinic receptor ligands, and protease inhibitors.

Janda, Kim  
Investigates biological catalysts, development of methods for the detection of and protection against chemical/biological warfare agents, combinatorial chemical libraries, synthesis and evaluation of enzyme inhibitors, solid-phase organic synthesis, quorum sensing within bacterial systems, lead discovery and detection strategies for tropical diseases, antibody/peptide phage display libraries, cell-penetrating peptides as therapeutic delivery vehicles, and the application of immunopharmacotherapy in the treatment of drug addiction, cancer and obesity.

Kelly, Jeffery  
examines the bioorganic and biophysical chemistry of aberrant conformational changes in proteins associated with misfolding diseases, seeking to develop new approaches for preventing these diseases with purposefully designed small molecules.

Nicolaou, K.C.  
works on the total synthesis of biologically active natural and designed molecules and the discovery and development of new synthetic strategies and technologies.

Rebek Jr., Julius  
studies basic questions of molecular recognition, self-assembly, catalysis, and complementarity by designing novel organic molecular nanocapsules and synthetic receptors.

Sharpless, K. Barry 
discovers new and useful transformations for organic synthesis, particularly employing inorganic catalysts and olefin-derived compounds of high reactivity; he also applies "in situ" click chemistry, which makes enzymes into reaction vessels and templates for the formation of their own inhibitors.

Wong, Chi-Huey  
directs his research towards the development of new chemical-enzymatic strategies for the synthesis of biologically active compounds and chiral intermediates; the design and synthesis of mechanism-based inhibitors of enzymes or receptors; the study of carbohydrate-based biological recognition and its intervention; and the investigation of reaction mechanisms.

Yu, Jin-Quan  
Discovers regioselective and enantioselective reactions based on C-H activations and applies these reactions to drug discovery and natural product synthesis.