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Chemistry

Chairman's Overview

Boger
Dale Boger, Ph.D.

Since its founding in 1989, the program in chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has emerged as a premier program in the country and across the world. We have a remarkably distinguished group of faculty deveoted to the field of chemistry, an outstanding Ph.D. program in chemistry that every year attracts a stellar group of new graduate students, state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, and a focus that is central to both the field of chemistry and our mission as a non-profit research institute.

Chemistry at TSRI focuses on chemical synthesis, chemical biology, and medicinal chemistry, three critical areas central to biomedical research. The members of our faculty are distinguished teacher–scholars who have developed highly visible and internationally renown research programs in areas as diverse as biological and chemical catalysis, natural products synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, molecular design, supramolecular chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical evolution, materials science, and chemical biology. The chemistry graduate program attracts some of the best-qualified candidates from the United States and abroad. Our major research facilities, under the direction of Dee H. Huang (nuclear magnetic resonance, La Jolla), Gary Siuzdak (mass spectrometry, La Jolla), and Raj Chadha (x-ray crystallography, La Jolla), Douglas Kojetin (nuclear magnetic resonance, Florida), Mike Chalmers (mass spectrometry, Florida), Tina Izard (x-ray crystallography, Florida), Peter Hodder (high throughput screening, Florida), Brandon Young (genomics and cell-based screening, Florida), and Howard Petrie (flow cytometry, Florida), are second to none and continue to provide crucial support to our research programs. The Mabel and Arnold Beckman Center for the Chemical Sciences in La Jolla and the science buildings on the Jupiter, Florida, campus constantly receive high praise from visitors from around the world for their architectural design and operational aspects, both highly conducive to research and education.

Research in the Department of Chemistry goes unabated, establishing international visibility and attracting attention as evidenced by the publications emanating from the department, lecture invitations to our faculty, visits by outside scholars, and headline news in the media. The Institute for Scientific Information includes several of our faculty on their list of highly influential chemistry researchers worldwide.

 
History

The Department of Chemistry at TSRI was established in 1989 with Professor K.C. Nicolaou as the founding chairman.  It was created to advance the field of chemical synthesis and to bridge the long-standing gap between biology and chemistry.  Thus, the already existing chemical biology investigations at TSRI were augmented and complemented with the chemical synthesis endeavors of the newly arrived faculty (C.-H. Wong, K.B. Sharpless and Dale Boger), and the appointment of new faculty (Reza Ghadiri and Kim Janda), leading to a unique and powerful blend of faculty engaged in chemical synthesis and chemical biology studies.

In 1990, chemistry became part of the graduate program at TSRI. Today, this program attracts some of the most talented domestic and foreign graduate students interested in the chemical and biochemical sciences.  In 1996, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Chemical Sciences was inaugurated and housed several of the chemistry faculty.  Also in 1996, and through the generosity and vision of L.S. Skaggs, the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology was established under the directorship of Professor Julius Rebek, Jr., and included several members from the Department of Chemistry.

In 2004, Scripps Research established its second campus in Jupiter, Florida, that included chemistry as part of its research and educational mission, with Professor William Roush as the first chemistry faculty.  Now based in the new (2009) state-of-the-art campus in Jupiter, the Florida branch of the Chemistry Department includes several new faculty working in the areas of chemical synthesis, chemical biology, medicinal chemistry, and new materials and fuels.