UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Congratulations to Prof. Paul S. Weiss (@pswnano.bsky.social)‬, who has been elected a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences – Materials Science Division! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/paul-s-...

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is excited to welcome talented theoretical chemist Professor Thomas Fay, @tompfay.bsky.social, who joined UCLA as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...

July 22, 2025 | UCLA Scientists Break Imaging Barrier to Unlock Secrets of Deadly “Chaotic” Viruses - California NanoSystems Institute For years, graduate student Lily Taylor and her advisor, Professor Jose Rodriguez, have been working on something big: a novel technique that would finally allow scientists to look closely at some of ...

A new technique developed by @ucla.edu associate prof Jose Rodriguez (@cnsiatucla.bsky.social @uclacb.bsky.social) and grad student Lily Taylor allows scientists to visualize the surface proteins of “chaotic” enveloped viruses—in their natural state for the first time🔬
cnsi.ucla.edu/july-22-2025...

Scientists mourn Tom Lehrer — nerdiest of singer-songwriters The mathematician’s memorable satires are beloved by generations of researchers.

It's great to see that Dr. Eric Scerri is quoted in this recent Nature article! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Check out the stunning cover featuring recent paper from @hoseanelson.bsky.social Lab, led by our one and only @daverdude.bsky.social! He discovered an entire class of natural products using microED powered by arrayED

@caltech.edu @caltechcce.bsky.social @uclacb.bsky.social

Congratulations to former Garg lab postdoc Evan Darzi @thederzzz.bsky.social for winning a 2025 ACS Early Career Investigator Award! @acs.org www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/2025-ac...

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is excited to welcome Professor Kalli Kappel (@kallikappel.bsky.social), who joined UCLA as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is excited to welcome world-class computational chemical biologist Professor Steffen Lindert, who joined the UCLA faculty as an Associate Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...

This summer, with gratitude, we said goodbye to former Teacher-Scholars Mackenzie Anderson (Kaner group) and Huiling Shao (Houk group), and welcomed our newest Teacher-Scholars Anneka Miller Casas (Caram group) and Cindy Sining Wang (@schmittwitt.bsky.social). chemistry.ucla.edu/news/teacher...

Probably my zaniest preprint to date just came out. I've explored the possibility that reactions of radical pairs can become enantioselective when one of the radicals is spin-polarised.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.08287

🥳Congrats to chemistry Ph.D. candidate and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jason Q.L. Williams (P. Weiss group), who has been named a Tillman Scholar for the class of 2025! chemistry.ucla.edu/news/2025-ti...

🥳Congratulations to BMSB Ph.D. student Lily Taylor (Rodriguez group), the 2025 recipient of the Arnold J. Berk Research Achievement Award, presented by the UCLA Molecular Biology Institute (MBI)!
chemistry.ucla.edu/news/2025-ar...

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Caitlyn Fick (Srivastava group) who is one of only five UCLA Ph.D. students selected for the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award for Teaching Assistants! chemistry.ucla.edu/news/2025-di...

We are excited to welcome six new faculty members who joined the department on July 1, 2025: Professors Jazmin Aguilar-Romero, Thomas Fay, Kalli Kappel, Steffen Lindert, Antonio Tinoco Valencia, & Patrick Wilson. @tompfay.bsky.social @kallikappel.bsky.social www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...

Flyer for the July 16 virtual symposium. Wednesday July 16, 2025 12-1:30 PM EST ACS Division of Organic chemistry Virtual Symposium. Join us for the DOC Virtual Symposium Series! Each session we bring you insightful presentations from top organic chemistry researchers across academia and industry. Free presentations, no registration needed Abby Doyle UCLA Nickel and Photocatalysis Nat Kadunce Gilead Sciences Process Development of Lenacapavir and a Challenging Starting Material

🚨Only 2 weeks away! July 16 @ 12 noon ET 🚨
The next DOC @organicdivision.org Virtual Symposium featuring Abby Doyle @uclacb.bsky.social and Nat Kadunce #GileadChemistry
Watch for free at:
YouTube: orgn.link/watch
Zoom: orgn.link/vs-zoom
Thank you to the @BeyondCCHF for hosting
#ChemSky

Congratulations Sarah! 🥳

Carbon capture method mines cement ingredients from the air University of Michigan researchers have helped develop a method to take carbon dioxide, an industrial waste product that pollutes the atmosphere and turn it into something useful: precursors to make c...

Check out this news story about our group's latest research @umich.edu in collaboration with the Velazquez Lab @ucdavis.bsky.social and the Alexandrova Lab @uclacb.bsky.social as part of the 4C Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the DOE Office of Science.
news.umich.edu/carbon-captu...

Carbon capture method mines cement ingredients from the air University of Michigan researchers have helped develop a method to take carbon dioxide, an industrial waste product that pollutes the atmosphere and turn it into something useful: precursors to make c...

University of Michigan researchers developed a method to turn CO₂ into solid materials for cement using tiny amounts of lead. This eco-friendly process captures carbon and creates useful carbonates, reducing emissions from cement production.

Student award recipients

🥳Congrats to ugrad researchers Madison Bang (Su Lab), Helen Elmer (Gelbart Lab), Peter Fernandez (Koehler Lab), Precious Calderon (Vallim Lab), Samantha Wu (Rodriguez Lab), winners of the Science Dean’s Prize at this year’s UCLA Ugrad Research Showcase! bit.ly/DeansPrize

Microcrystal Electron Diffraction-Guided Discovery of Fungal Metabolites Nature remains a vast repository of complex and functional metabolites whose structural characterization continues to drive innovations in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials science. The cr...

There's been a rich connection between electron diffraction and the nature of the chemical bond over the years. Here, we've shown how you can leverage electron diffraction to discover and characterize novel natural products.
@caltechcce.bsky.social @uclacb.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is excited to welcome Dr. Antonio Tinoco Valencia (Harvard), who will join the @ucla faculty as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2025. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/welcomi...

Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Metal Oxalates in Nonaqueous Solutions Using Trace Metal Pb on Carbon Supports Enhanced by a Tailored Microenvironment Encapsulating trace lead (Pb) in carbon electrodes with a fluoropolymer tailors the microenvironment for carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction. This enhances efficiency and selectivity, offering a tunable a...

Excited about our latest work with the Velazquez Lab @ucdchem.bsky.social and the Alexandrova Lab @uclacb.bsky.social as part of our 4C EFRC. We show that trace Pb can convert waste CO2 into metal oxalates, precursors for alternative cements. @umich.edu #umichresearch. doi.org/10.1002/aenm...

Congratulations to Ph.D. students Arwen Ying Cai (Alexandrova & Paul Diaconescu labs) and Calvin Ho and Samuel Hugie (Doyle lab) on receiving prestigious international graduate scholarships! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/three-p...

Prof. Michael Jung, a pioneer in medicinal drug discovery, will deliver the 130th Faculty Research Lecture at UCLA on June 6 at 2 PM in Schoenberg Hall. Join us for “Drug Discovery in Academia: Some Success Stories” — free & open to the public. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/profess...

What if your TEM could run #microED and solve structures on its own?
Just insert your sample—watch the structure appear.
No human picks. No manual tweaks.
Meet REyes!
doi.org/10.26434/che...
@caltechcce.bsky.social @caltech.edu @uclacb.bsky.social

Professors Juli Feigon and Sabeeha Merchant are honored in JMB’s inaugural “Pioneers in Molecular Biology” issue, celebrating their groundbreaking research and inspiring careers. www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/jmb-pio...

Imaging-guided deep tissue in vivo sound printing Three-dimensional printing offers promise for patient-specific implants and therapies but is often limited by the need for invasive surgical procedures. To address this, we developed an imaging-guided...

Here is an exciting new paper on 3D printing in vivo with ultrasound with @pswnano.bsky.social group alumna Prof. Elham Davoodi, now @utah.edu, from her work at @caltech.edu with @weigaolab.bsky.social bit.ly/InVsound3D @science.org

Congrats to third-year organic chemistry graduate students Flora Fan (Doyle lab), Zach Walters (Garg lab), and Qingyang Zhou (Houk lab) who have been named the 2025 Senior Foote Fellows! 🥳 www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/2025-se...

Congratulations to postdoc Dr. Haleh Alimohamadi (Wong lab) & Ph.D. students Yongjia He (Caram lab), Luca McDermott Catena (GargLab) & Yessica Nelson (@organomimetic.bsky.social) for being named 2025 UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/uc-pres...

🎉 Congratulations to Prof. Ken Houk on receiving the 2024 Prix Franco-Américain from the Société Chimique de France! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/ken-hou...