Overview
Our research aims to expand the bounds of druggability for both fundamental and therapeutic discoveries. We achieve this through the development of covalent chemical tools and the leveraging of chemical proteomic technologies. We are particularly interested in developing chemical tools targeting proteins that drive cancers and immune disorders with unmet clinical needs. Our goal is to find chemical starting points to expand our understanding of fundamental biology and to develop next-generation therapeutics.
Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
·
2025 - Present
Chemistry,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
·
2026 - Present
Duke Cancer Institute,
Institutes and Centers
Recent Scholarly Works
Cysteine allostery and autoinhibition govern human STING oligomer functionality.
Journal article Nature chemical biology · October 2025 The stimulator of interferon genes (STING) innate immune pathway can exacerbate inflammatory diseases when aberrantly activated, emphasizing an unmet need for STING antagonists. However, no inhibitors have advanced to the clinic because it remains unclear ... Full text CiteChemical tools to expand the ligandable proteome: Diversity-oriented synthesis-based photoreactive stereoprobes.
Journal article Cell chemical biology · December 2024 Chemical proteomics enables the global analysis of small molecule-protein interactions in native biological systems and has emerged as a versatile approach for ligand discovery. The range of small molecules explored by chemical proteomics has, however, rem ... Full text CiteRedirecting the pioneering function of FOXA1 with covalent small molecules.
Journal article Molecular cell · November 2024 Pioneer transcription factors (TFs) bind to and open closed chromatin, facilitating engagement by other regulatory factors involved in gene activation or repression. Chemical probes are lacking for pioneer TFs, which has hindered their mechanistic investig ... Full text CiteEducation
Michigan State University ·
2019
Ph.D.
Eastern Michigan University ·
2014
M.S.