
Events
Spring 2025 Seminar Series
Leading chemistry and biochemistry researchers present their new discoveries from 5:00-5:50PM. These events are free and open to the public. Students from all disciplines are highly recommended to attend and participate.
Questions? Contact Dr. Jesus Cordova, Assistant Professor, in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.
- Thursday, February 20
Seminar Title: A journey to cancer cell-selective chemotherapy: cytotoxic natural product to life saving drug.
Nilanjana Chakraborty is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Boger Lab, Scripps Research. They come from a synthetic organic chemistry background and now explore the world of proteins with expertise in chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Boger. A class of duocarmycin prodrugs that emerged from the lab’s research was designed to be selectively activated in tumor micro-environment. Their research focuses on understanding the mechanism of activation of this unique class of cancer-cell-selective N-acyl O-aminophenol prodrugs under physiological conditions. To assess the mechanism, the lab started with the development of a prodrug consumption assay and demonstrated how this simple, yet powerful assay revealed that efficacious members of this class release the free drug exclusively in a protein mediated reaction. The studies provided insights into site, slow release, and mechanism of free drug release, and were used to characterize the activation protein(s). They are expanding the scope of this assay to now further improve the cancer-cell selectivity with rationally designed new and improved analogs of the prodrug, to understand the structural requirements for the activating protein-prodrug binding and activation, and to identify the protein responsible for the tumor selective activation likely constituting a new oncology targeted precision therapy.
Location: Markstein Hall 102
- Thursday, February 27
Seminar Title: TBA
Dr. Fernando Uribe-Romo, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Central Florida.
- Thursday, March 6
Seminar Title: Targeting NIS Synthetases for Antibiotic Design: the Case of DesD.
Dr. Katherine Hoffmann, Associate Professor of Chemistry, California Lutheran University.
- Thursday, March 13
Seminar title: Application of Computational Neural Networks in Oxidative Metabolite Screening and Toxicity Assessment.
Dr. Grady Hanrahan, Chemistry Professor and Department Chair, California Lutheran University.
Fall 2024 Speakers
- September 5: Omar Apolinar, PhD student, Scripps Research/University of Oxford and a CSTEM alumni.
- September 12: Dr. Ben Naman, Director of Medicinal Plants Research, San Diego Botanic Garden.
- September 19: Dr. Douglas Collins, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Bucknell University.
- October 10: Dr. Angelica Orlova, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry at University of California, San Diego, and a CSUSM alumni.
- November 21: Dr. Benjamin McDonald Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Brown University.
Student Research Showcase
Hosted in May, prior to Commencement, the Research Poster Showcase and Award Recognition Ceremony is an opportunity for the Chemistry & Biochemistry students showcase their research and celebrate the accomplishments of our graduating seniors.
Super Stem Saturday
Get involved and volunteer at one of our booths! Super STEM Saturday is held the second Saturday in the month of March and is part of the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering. This event is free and open to the public.