Experience

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Research Associate Professor

  • Apr 2021 - Present

• Research Assistant Professor

  • Jun 2015 - Apr 2021

  Principal Investigator, Medicinal Chemistry for the SGC-UNC, a center within the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy that functions as an open discovery network for protein kinases and a hub of the Structural Genomics Consortium (www.thesgc.org), an international public-private partnership that supports the discovery of new medicines through open access research.



GSK

• United Kingdom
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Investigator

  • Mar 2014 - Jun 2015

  Chemical Biology group Chemical Biology group



Stanford University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Postdoctoral Scholar

  • Apr 2011 - Feb 2014

  • Developed high-throughput mixed lymphocyte response, immune-mediated cytotoxicity and lymphocyte activation assays in-house. • Confirmed that non-toxic, bryostatin-like PKC activators stimulate the immune system, leading to cancer cell death. • Forged new partnerships and managed multi-institutional collaborations with 2 U.S. universities as well as 4 Stanford University labs. • Proposed and efficiently synthesized novel diacylglycerol analogues that display PKC affinity on par with complex natural product leads. • Generated major advancements toward solving the biologically relevant membrane-associated, ligand-bound form of PKC with the Cegelski lab, treating resistant cancers using siRNA with the Teng lab, and exploring PKC-induced neuronal growth with the Cui lab.



The University of Kansas

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• ACS Organic Chemistry and NIH Graduate Fellow

  • Aug 2006 - Mar 2011

  • Designed, prepared and evaluated novel modulators of the Hsp90 C-terminus that elicit anti-cancer and neuroprotective activities. • Conceived efficient syntheses of potential cancer chemotherapeutics that outperform clinically used agents in vitro and in vivo. • Managed multi-institutional collaborations with the NIH and 2 U.S. universities to facilitate advanced biological testing of leads. • Guided a subgroup of postdoctoral fellows and graduate students as a collaborative team working toward the design and preparation of novobiocin-inspired libraries.



The National Institutes of Health

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 700 & Above Employee

• Research Assistant

  • Jun 2008 - Aug 2008

  • Established role of phosphorylation in Hsp90 regulation through making mutants of yeast Hsp90 and expressing human Hsp90 in E. coli. • Identified three novel classes of C-terminal Hsp90 modulators and explored protein isoform selectivity in yeast. • Extended collaboration through synthesis of an inhibitor of Hsp90 phosphorylation targeting Wee1 for use in vivo. • Established role of phosphorylation in Hsp90 regulation through making mutants of yeast Hsp90 and expressing human Hsp90 in E. coli. • Identified three novel classes of C-terminal Hsp90 modulators and explored protein isoform selectivity in yeast. • Extended collaboration through synthesis of an inhibitor of Hsp90 phosphorylation targeting Wee1 for use in vivo.



Case Western Reserve University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Independent Undergraduate Researcher

  • Jun 2005 - May 2006

  • Prepared non-natural nucleotides that terminate chain elongation when DNA is damaged as potential anti-cancer chemotherapeutics. • Prepared non-natural nucleotides that terminate chain elongation when DNA is damaged as potential anti-cancer chemotherapeutics.



Case Western Reserve University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Independent Undergraduate Researcher

  • Aug 2003 - May 2004

  • Synthesized organophosphorus compounds for development of new catalytic reactions and construction of novel materials. • Synthesized organophosphorus compounds for development of new catalytic reactions and construction of novel materials.