Chemistry & Biochemistry Seminars

  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 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.

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.