
January 19, 2022
Host
Tianbiao Liu
Seminar Format
Virtual/Zoom
Affiliation
Argonne National Laboratory
Bio
Chengjun Sun is a beamline scientist/Physicist at Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. He is interested in applying advanced X-ray spectroscopic techniques on materials research
Time: 4:00-5:00 PM (MST)
Location: ESLC 130 & Virtually via Zoom
Zoom Information
Meeting ID: 837 7487 3272
Passcode: 886164
Contact ida.walters@usu.edu to schedule a speaker or with questions.

January 26, 2022
Host
Tianbiao Liu & Gang Li
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
Washington University in St. Louis
Bio
KEVIN D. MOELLER joined the chemistry faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 1987 where he is now Professor of Chemistry. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 25, 1958, earned a BA degree in Chemistry from the University of California – Santa Barbara in 1980, and then his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry (Professor R. Daniel Little) from the same institution in 1985. He was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (Professor Barry M. Trost) from 1985 to 1987. Professor Moeller’s independent research primarily focuses on how the interplay between electrochemistry, physical organic chemistry, and synthesis can be used to address a variety of topics. His group has explored the chemistry of highly reactive radical cation intermediates in the context of exploiting electrochemistry as a method for triggering unique synthetic transformations, they have examined the use of modern synthetic chemistry as a method for building complex molecular surfaces on microelectrode arrays, and they have engaged in the design and synthesis of chemical probes for examining and mitigating the reactivity of G-protein signaling pathways. His work continues to play a significant role in defining for the synthetic chemistry community how they can think about and take full advantage of electrochemical methods. The Moeller group’s research is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and has led to the publication of over 160 papers and the presentation of over 300 talks and invited lectures. Professor Moeller has guided 45 students to their Ph.D. degrees and taught over 6,300 students in his courses. He has received Washington University’s Student Union Professor of the Year Award, the Washington University Arts and Sciences Excellence in Research Award, Washington University’s “Unsung Hero” award for his contributions to undergraduate education, the American Chemical Society’s St. Louis Award, the Manuel M. Baizer Award for Organic and Biological Electrochemistry from the Electrochemical Society, the ACS Midwest Award, the ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar – Late Stage Career Award, and the Jaroslav Heyrovsky Prize for Molecular Electrochemistry from the International Society for Electrochemistry. Professor Moeller served at the National Science Foundation as a Program Director for the Chemical Synthesis and Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanism B Programs from 2016-2017 and as the Program Lead for the Chemical Synthesis Program from 2017-2018.

February 2, 2022
Host
Lance Seefeldt
Seminar Format
Virtual/Zoom
Affiliation
Iowa State University
Bio
Nigel F. Reuel is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Iowa State University and is a Jack R. and Carol A. Johnson Faculty Fellow and College of Engineering Entrepreneurial Fellow. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT in 2014 under the guidance of Prof. Michael Strano. After graduating he attempted to commercialize his PhD work in a startup, Volvox Biologic Inc. (Boston), and then consulted at a larger life science tool company that obtained the startup IP (Maryland). He then worked as a Research Investigator (PI) at DuPont’s historic Central Research and Development campus (Wilmington, DE) for two years on projects ranging from wireless power transfer, sensors, and precision agriculture. He was then promoted as the corporate technology scout, where, for 8 months, he traveled to universities and incubators to find technology for the CTO office at DuPont. Although this was an interesting role at a large company, he quickly realized that making technology is more exciting than finding it and was pleased with the opportunity to come to ISU and become an entrepreneurial-minded professor. Currently his group has 15 active technology disclosures at ISURF, two granted ISU patents, and three startup company offshoots (Skroot Laboratory Inc., Frugi Biotech Inc., and Zymosense Inc. which have earned >$2M in SBIR funds). Dr. Reuel’s work has been recognized by the NSF Career Award (2021), NIH Outstanding Early Investigator Award R35 (2020), 3M Nontennured Faculty Award and BMES Advanced Biomanufacturing Junior Investigator Award (2020).

February 16, 2022
Host
Tianbiao Liu
Seminar Format
ESLC RM 130/Virtual
Affiliation
University of Houston
Bio
Tai-Yen earned his B.S. (2002) and M.S. (2004) in Chemistry from National Tsing Hua University and a Ph.D. (2010) from Texas A&M University before pursuing a postdoctoral associate (2011-2016) at Cornell University. Tai-Yen started his independent career as an assistant professor of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Houston in 2016. His research focuses on the metal homeostasis in healthy and diseased neurons using single-molecule techniques. In particular, his group is interested in the dynamics and mechanisms of protein machinery involved in Cu trafficking within/between neurons. His research goal is to understand how metals affect neuronal signaling and cause neurodegenerative diseases. His work has been recognized with the Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early Stage Investigators and a Robert A. Welch Foundation grant. Besides research, Tai-Yen enjoys and enthusiastically participates in multiple educational activities. In recognition of his classroom teaching and laboratory mentorship, Tai-Yen received the College's highly competitive John C. Butler Excellence in Teaching Award in 2021.

February 23, 2022
Host
Lance Seefeldt
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
Cibus Technologies, Career Builder Event
Links
ioniqsciences.com, biohive.com, cibusbiotechnologies.com, theoliverfund.org
Bio
Mr. Bauer has focused his professional endeavors on the medtech industry and is also the CEO of Cibus Biotechnologies Inc. In 2012, Mr. Bauer acquired BurnFree Products, and in just two years with a focus on sustainable revenue generation, led the team to expand BurnFree distribution to 58 countries, managing regulatory processes, re-working quality systems and making BurnFree the second largest burn treatment product line in the world. Mr. Bauer is the CEO of IONIQ Sciences, and Cibus Biotechnologies both are Utah based diagnostic start ups, with IONIQ focussing on early stage cancer detection, and Cibus developing next generation at home diagnostic systems. Mr. Bauer currently serves as a trustee of The Oliver Fund, a non-profit he co-founded, Chairman of the BioUtah SLC Biotech Initiative Advisory Committee, Co-Chair of the BioHive, and recently served as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Ensign College. He holds a BS in Economics from the University of Utah, and an MBA from Boise State University.

March 2, 2022
Host
Yi Rao
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
University of California at San Diego and Shanghai Jiaotong University
Bio
Dr. Chang obtained his PhD degree in chemistry from Stanford University with works focused on ultrafast nonlinear infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics in condensed phase. As a postdoctoral researcher in the Alivisatos group at UC Berkeley, he investigated charge transfer dynamics between quantum dots and molecular ligands under multi-excitonic conditions. Besides research works with time-resolved spectroscopy, he also enjoys learning the powerful tool of in-situ electron microscopy by imaging the transformation trajectories of semiconductor nanocrystals. Currently he is a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego with Prof. Wei Xiong before joining Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China as an assistant professor of chemistry in 2022.

March 16, 2022
Host
Gang Li
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
Southern Methodist University
Bio
Tom Runčevski was born in Macedonia where he finished his undergraduate studies in chemistry in 2011. He did his PhD at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany, with Prof. Robert E. Dinnebier. He graduated in 2014 with honors, and he was awarded with the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. After one year postdoctoral stay at the MPI, he joined UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Nat Lab in 2015, as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Jeffrey R. Long. In 2018, he started his independent career the Southern Methodist University, as an assistant professor of chemistry.

March 23, 2022
Host
Nick Dickenson
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
University of Utah
Bio
Dr. Brenda L. Bass is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah. She is known for her contributions in defining double-stranded RNA-mediated pathways, including the discovery of ADAR RNA editing enzymes, and models and experiments that established Dicer's role in RNA silencing. Dr. Bass obtained a B.A. in chemistry from Colorado College, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center prior to joining the faculty of the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Bass is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007 she was elected and served as President of the RNA Society. She has received research support from the Pew Scholars Program, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and her National Institutes of Health support includes a Director’s Pioneer Award (2011) and Transformative Research Award (2020).

March 30, 2022
Host
Yi Rao
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
University of Miami

April 6, 2022
Host
Lance Seefeldt
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
Dale Christensen Consulting
Bio
Dr. Christensen is a biotech executive and consultant with over 25 years of R&D experience at the therapeutic interface of chemistry and biology experience managing research and early development across respiratory, inflammation, CNS, anti-infective, and oncology indications. He also holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Christensen has held with senior positions at Spyryx Biosciences, Oncotide, Cognosci, Affinergy Inc., Aryzun Pharmaceuticals, and KaroBio USA (formerly Novalon Pharmaceuticals).
In addition to running research programs for each company, he has also provided oversight of clinical trial design and execution; biomarker development; toxicology study design and execution; and CMC activities for multiple compounds, filing IND/CTA/CTNs, and early phase trials. Over his career, he has successfully manage the translation of five programs from concept to Phase 1 clinical trials leads the non-clinical and clinical development activities for multiple companies. Of the drugs he has progressed to clinical trials they range from improving the delivery of well-known drugs to drugs that he invented. He currently has multiple additional drugs that he has invented that are being prepared for clinical testing.
As an entrepreneur, Dr. Christensen has been involved in companies that have raised more than $100 M in funding from venture capital groups and more than $50 M in public markets. In addition, he has negotiated strategic partnerships with large pharma and managed external alliances with both large pharma and academic labs. Dr. Christensen received his B.S. in Chemistry from Utah State University, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Utah. He was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Texas A&M University. He has published many papers and is an inventor on numerous patents and patent applications in drug discovery.

April 13, 2022
Host
Yi Rao
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
University of California, San Diego
Bio
KEVIN D. MOELLER joined the chemistry faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 1987 where he is now Professor of Chemistry. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 25, 1958, earned a BA degree in Chemistry from the University of California – Santa Barbara in 1980, and then his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry (Professor R. Daniel Little) from the same institution in 1985. He was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (Professor Barry M. Trost) from 1985 to 1987. Professor Moeller’s independent research primarily focuses on how the interplay between electrochemistry, physical organic chemistry, and synthesis can be used to address a variety of topics. His group has explored the chemistry of highly reactive radical cation intermediates in the context of exploiting electrochemistry as a method for triggering unique synthetic transformations, they have examined the use of modern synthetic chemistry as a method for building complex molecular surfaces on microelectrode arrays, and they have engaged in the design and synthesis of chemical probes for examining and mitigating the reactivity of G-protein signaling pathways. His work continues to play a significant role in defining for the synthetic chemistry community how they can think about and take full advantage of electrochemical methods. The Moeller group’s research is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and has led to the publication of over 160 papers and the presentation of over 300 talks and invited lectures. Professor Moeller has guided 45 students to their Ph.D. degrees and taught over 6,300 students in his courses. He has received Washington University’s Student Union Professor of the Year Award, the Washington University Arts and Sciences Excellence in Research Award, Washington University’s “Unsung Hero” award for his contributions to undergraduate education, the American Chemical Society’s St. Louis Award, the Manuel M. Baizer Award for Organic and Biological Electrochemistry from the Electrochemical Society, the ACS Midwest Award, the ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar – Late Stage Career Award, and the Jaroslav Heyrovsky Prize for Molecular Electrochemistry from the International Society for Electrochemistry. Professor Moeller served at the National Science Foundation as a Program Director for the Chemical Synthesis and Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanism B Programs from 2016-2017 and as the Program Lead for the Chemical Synthesis Program from 2017-2018.

April 20, 2022
Host
Alexander Boldyrev
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
University of California, Los Angeles
Anastassia's Faculty Page
Bio
Anastassia Alexandrova is a Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA. She obtained a B.S./M.S. Diploma with highest honors, from Saratov University, Russia, her Ph.D. in theoretical physical chemistry from Utah State University, and was then a Postdoctoral Associate and an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. Anastassia joined the faculty of UCLA and CNSI in 2010. The focus of her laboratory is theory and computation for design and multi-scale modeling of functional materials: dynamic catalytic interfaces, artificial metalloenzymes, molecular qubits and their assemblies, and quantum materials. She is a recipient of numerous awards, such as NSF CAREER Award, Sloan Fellowship 2013, DARPA Young Faculty Award 2011, Fulbright Fellowship 2016, and ACS WCC Rising Star Award 2016, 2020 ACS Phys Early Career Award in Theoretical Chemistry, 2021 Max Planck-Humboldt medal, as well as UCLA’s Hanson-Dow award for excellence in teaching 2016, Herbert Newby McCoy award for excellence in faculty research 2016, undergraduate research mentorship award 2018, and 2019 distinguished teaching award (the highest honor for teaching given in UCLA) in 2019.

April 26, 2022
Host
Tianbiano Liu
Seminar Format
In Person/Virtual
Affiliation
Wayne State University
Long's Faculty Page
Bio
Dr. Long Luo is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Wayne State University. He received his B.S. (2009) in applied chemistry from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and his Ph.D. (2014) in chemistry from the University of Utah. Before joining Wayne State University in 2017, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA), and Wayne State University Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award and was selected as Nanoscale Emerging Investigators and the Langmuir inaugural Early Career Advisory Board Member. His current research interests include developing electrochemical sensors, electrochemical synthesis of functional nanomaterials and organic drug molecules.