PI

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Professor Andrei K. Yudin is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Medicine by Design at the University of Toronto. He obtained his B.Sc. degree at the Moscow State University in 1992 and his Ph.D. degree at the University of Southern California under the direction of Professors G. K. Surya Prakash and George A. Olah in 1996. He subsequently took up a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor K. Barry Sharpless at the Scripps Research Institute. In 1998, he started his independent career at the University of Toronto. He received early tenure, becoming an Associate Professor in 2002, and received an early promotion to the rank of a Full Professor in 2007. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for Chemical Science, handling submissions in the area of organic chemistry.

Current Members

betty%20cyan

Betty (aka Ben) was born and raised in Beijing, China but later moved to Vancouver, BC. She received her B. Sc. in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia, during which she completed her undergraduate thesis on platinum (II) complexes for self-assembling luminescent materials in Dr. Mark MacLachlan's lab. She also completed Co-op terms at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Dr. John Bell's lab work where she worked on bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) and oncolytic viruses, and at Chinook Therapeutics Inc. where she worked on SAR of therapeutic molecules against kidney diseases. She joined the Yudin Group as a M. Sc. student in fall 2023 with interests in organic synthesis and reaction development.

Graduate Student

bz.huang[@]mail.utoronto.ca

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Caleb Griesbach, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, obtained a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Applied Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. His academic journey culminated in a PhD from the University of Connecticut under the supervision of Mark W. Peczuh, where his research focused on carbohydrate chemistry. His thesis, titled "Characterization of the Low-Energy Conformations of Seven-Membered-Ring Oxacycles through Synthesis, Spectroscopy, and Computational Chemistry," centers on the synthesis and conformational analysis of septanoses. In 2023, he joined the Yudin and Aspuru-Guzik labs as a PDF to learn more about peptide and automation chemistry.

Postdoctoral Fellow

caleb.griesbach[@]mail.utoronto.ca

Chelsea%20cyan

Chelsey is from Langley, British Columbia. She received her Honours B.Sc. in Chemistry from The University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus in 2020, where she completed her undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Prof. Frederic Menard. Her research involved synthesizing sulfonium-based compounds for applications in protein labelling. Chelsey joined the Yudin group as a Ph.D. student in May 2021, with interests in organic synthesis.

Graduate Student

chelsey.brien[@]mail.utoronto.ca

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Daniel (Yang) Ou was born in Shenzhen, China. He received his B.Sc. with Honors in Chemistry from the University of Alberta. During his undergraduate, he worked on Asymmetric Catalysis under the supervision of Dr. Rylan Lundgren and Bioluminescence Assay Development under the supervision of Dr. Frederick West. In Sept 2022, Daniel joined the Yudin group as a graduate student interested in developing new methodology for heterocycle interconversion.

Graduate Student

daniel.ou[@]mail.utoronto.ca

Devishi%20cyan

Devishi was born in India and is currently an undergraduate student pursuing Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Inspired by the story of her favourite rock guitarist who passed away from cancer, she aspires to contribute to cancer research. For her first co-op, she joined the Yudin Group, where she gained valuable experience about peptides and heterocycles that she intends to apply to future research endeavours. In her free time, she enjoys playing metal music on her electric guitar and deepening her knowledge of nanoparticles and chemistry.

Undergraduate Student

devishi.talwar[@]uwaterloo.ca

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James Song was born in Beijing, China. He is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Cellular Molecular Biology and Chemistry, with interests in pursuing higher education in synthetic and medicinal organic chemistry. He enjoys playing his electric bass and with his cats in his free time, as well as reading about obscure ideas proposed by German philosphers.

Undergraduate Student

Ziyao.song[@]mail.utoronto.ca

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Kane was grew up in Exeter, England, and Doha, Qatar. He completed a Masters in Natural Sciences (Chemistry, Biology) at Durham University (UK) with a thesis focussed on the synthesis and application donor-acceptor fluorescent crosslinkers to monitor SUMOylation cascades in Arabidopsis under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Whiting and Prof. Ari Sadandom. From there he went to the University of St Andrews (UK) under the supervision of Prof Allan Watson where worked a Palladium-catalysed boron homologation and the alpha boryl electrophile effect. He spent the last 3 months of his PhD at Max Planck Institute (Potsdam, Germany) under the supervision of Dr John Molloy working on energy transfer catalysis of borylated heterocycles before moving to the Yudin Lab as a Merck Postdoctoral Fellow.

Postdoctoral Fellow

kane.bastick[@]utoronto.ca

Martina%20cyan

Martina Lauerova was born in Prague, Czech Republic. She is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto pursuing the Synthetic and Catalytic Chemistry specialist. Martina is interested in using Computational Chemistry in organic synthesis and is currently working on the synthetic half-reactions and reaction discovery.

Undergraduate Student

martina.lauerova[@]mail.utoronto.ca

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Matthew was born and raised in the city of Newmarket, ON. He received both his BSc and MSc from the University of Waterloo. He completed his master’s thesis under the supervision of Professor Scott Taylor. His research was focused on the solid-phase total synthesis of complex Z-dehydrotryptophan-bearing cyclic peptides. Matthew joined the Yudin group in September 2021 with interests in reaction discovery as well as the study of peptide-based macrocycles.

Graduate Student

m.diamandas[@]mail.utoronto.ca

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Morgan was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. He received his BSc in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Waterloo. Under the supervision of Professor Scott Taylor, he completed his 4th year thesis on the synthesis of beta-hydroxy leucine derivatives. During co-ops at Paraza Pharma, Inc. and BioVectra, Inc. he completed projects relating to donor-acceptor cyclopropanes and nickel flow photoredox aminations. He joined the Yudin Group as a MSc in fall 2023 with interest in reaction discovery in heterocycle synthesis.

Graduate Student

morgan.cordell[@]mail.utoronto.ca

Past Members

PhD chemists:

  • Frank Lee (Scientific Associate, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto)
  • Mikio Sasaki (Senior Director, Technology R&D Management, Sumitomo Pharma, Japan)
  • Chirag Apte (Research Scientist, X-chem, Montreal)
  • Sungjoon Huh (Research Scientist, Paraza Pharma, Montreal)
  • Aleksandra Holownia (Senior Scientist, Abbvie, Chicago, IL)
  • Harjeet Soor (Research Scientist, Paraza Pharma, Montreal)
  • Diego Diaz (Research Scientist, Merck, Rahway, NJ)
  • Joanne Tan (Medicinal Chemist, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, San Francisco, CA)
  • Sherif Kaldas (Laboratory Head, Bayer Crop Science, Wuppertal, Germany)
  • Victoria Corless (Editor for Advanced Materials, VCH Wiley, Germany)
  • Sean Liew (Senior Research Scientist, Gilead, Alberta)
  • Serge Zaretsky (Director, Worldwide Medical Oncology, Bristol Myers Squibb, NJ)
  • Jeff St. Denis (Principal Scientist, Dunad Therapeutics, Toronto)
  • Benjamin Chung (Senior Scientist, NuChem Therapeutics, Montreal)
  • Naila Assem (Director, Bolt Threads, San Francisco, CA)
  • Ben Rotstein (Professor of Radiochemistry, University of Ottawa)
  • Zhi He (Professor of Chemistry, diseased, Beijing Normal University, China)
  • Igor Dubovyk (Senior Scientist, Abbvie, Chicago, IL)
  • Ryan Hili (Professor of Chemistry, York University)
  • Lawrence Cheung (Department of National Defence, Ottawa)
  • Chris White (Senior Scientist, NuChem Therapeutics, Montreal)
  • Iain Watson (Associate Principal Scientist, AstraZeneca, Boston, MA)
  • Greg Chen (Senior Research Scientist, Siemens, Los Angeles, CA)
  • Larissa Krasnova (Research Scientist, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA)
  • Shadi Dalili (Teaching Faculty, University of Toronto at Scarborough)
  • Yu Chen (Professor of Chemistry, Queens College, New York City, NY)
  • Tung Siu (Patent Examiner, Ottawa)
  • Jim Martyn (Patent Examiner, Ottawa)
  • Shahla Yekta (Lead Scientist, Global Public Health, Toronto)
  • Chieh-Hung Tien (Process Chemist, POINT Biopharma, Toronto)
  • Solomon Appavoo
  • Vincent Trudel (Postdoctoral fellow, Medicinal Chemistry, Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer of the Université de Montréal)
  • Alina Trofimova (Scientist, Amgen, Thousand Oaks, California)
  • Martynas Sirvinskas (in progress)
  • Chelsey Brien (in progress)
  • Matthew Diamandas (in progress)
  • Daniel Ou (in progress)
  • Morgan Cordell (in progress)
  • Betty Ben Zhen Huang (in progress)

MSc students:

  • Eric Vanootsen (Surgeon, Stratford General Hospital, Hamilton)
  • Lily Yu (Patent Examiner, Government of Canada, Ottawa)
  • Tiantong Lou (General Dentistry, Scarborough)
  • Jennessa Youm (Mortgage Specialist, Hamilton)
  • Genevieve Canzonieri (Analytical Chemist, Apotex, Mississauga)
  • Xinghan Li (Research Chemist, China)
  • Sharon Yang (Patent Lawyer, Beijing, China)
  • Joy Yu (Senior Scientist, Genentech, CA)
  • Tim Rasmussen (Senior Scientist, Monte Rosa Therapeutics, Boston, MA)
  • Shannon Decker (Associate Director, Chinook Therapeutics, Vancouver)
  • Nick Afagh (Vascular Surgeon, GCH, Guelph)
  • Brittany Inman (PhD student, Chemistry, University of Kansas)
  • Kowan O'Keefe (PhD student, Public Policy, University of Maryland, MD)
  • Adam Zajdlik (Scientist, Terremoto Biosciences, San Francisco, CA)
  • Rebecca Courtemanche (Clinical Research Coordinator, Pediatric Surgery, UBC)
  • Christine Picard (Associate Professor of Forensics, Indiana University, IN)
  • Leslie Fradkin (Teacher, Toronto District School Board)
  • Alaeddeen Al-Toum (currently looking for a job)
  • Timothy McTiernan (Research Scientist, Paraza Pharma)
  • Nick Heller (Eurofins CDMO Alphora, Toronto)
  • Michelle Madin (PhD student, Greenaway lab, Imperial College London)

Postdoctoral fellows:

  • Sivaraj Baktharaman (Senior Scientist, Toronto Research Chemicals)
  • George Saunders (Research Scientist, AstraZeneca London, U.K.)
  • Shinya Kobori (Senior Scientist, Nippon Soda, Japan)
  • Akitake Yamaguchi (Senior Scientist, Daiichi Sankyo, Japan)
  • Takuya Kaji (Assistant Professor, Tohoku University, Japan)
  • Milan Bergeron-Brlek (Teaching Professor, University of Quebec)
  • Julie Grouleff (Postdoctoral Fellow, Aarhus University, Denmark)
  • Wenjie Shao (Senior Scientist, Ganlee Pharmaceuticals, China)
  • John Frost (Associate Principal Scientist, Merck, Rahway, NJ)
  • Sai Chakka (Senior Scientist, Unnatural Products Inc., San Francisco, CA)
  • Piera Trinchera (Senior Scientist, Pharmaron, U.K.)
  • Anton Makarov (Professor, Perm State University, Perm, Russia)
  • Igor Titaniouk (Professor, INEOS, Moscow, Russia)
  • Manuel Perez Vazquez (Research Chemist, OTI Lumonics, Toronto)
  • Conor Scully (Associate Director, Computational Chemistry, Dunad Therapeutics, Toronto)
  • Shinya Adachi (Staff Researcher, University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Monzur Morshed (Research Chemist, Encycle Therapeutics)
  • Jen Hickey (Principal Scientist, Merck, Rahway, NJ)
  • Kazuya Kobayashi (Professor, Kyoto University, Japan)
  • Vishal Rai (Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), India)
  • Wei Li (Research Chemist, Beijing, China)
  • David Soriano (Research Chemist, Montreal, Canada)
  • David Winternheimer (Principal Consultant, ScaleHealth, Los Angeles, CA)
  • Baktharaman Sivaraj (Senior Scientist, Toronto Research Chemicals)
  • Patrik Vastila (Stockholm, Sweden)
  • France-Aimee Alphonse (Senior Scientist, GlaxoSmithKline, U.K.)
  • Evgenii Blyumin (Senior Scientist, DSM, Switzerland)
  • Aldo Caiazzo (Senior Research Scientist, Shell Global, The Netherlands)
  • Rodrigo Mendoza (Senior Research Scientist, Institut de recherche en immunologie et en cancérologie, IRIC, Montreal)
  • Yury Lebedev (Senior Research Scientist, Solgate, Austria)
  • Subramanian Pandiaraju (Senior Research Scientist, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto)
  • Joonseong Hur (Assistant Professor, Inje University, Gimhae, South Korea)
  • Chen Chen Li (Senior research scientist, Eurofins CDMO Alphora, Toronto)
  • Caleb Griesbach

Undergraduate students:

  • Juan Zheng (undergraduate student)
  • Sarah Styler (undergraduate student)
  • Benjamin Chiu (undergraduate student)
  • Medina Afindiyeva (undergraduate student)
  • Bohodur Hamzaev (undergraduate student)
  • Branden Kwak (undergraduate student)
  • Spencer Ler (undergraduate student)
  • Takahito Kasahara (undergraduate student)
  • Akos Kokai (undergraduate student)
  • Olga Chernoloz (undergraduate student)
  • Bruce Gregoire (undergraduate student)
  • Eugene Kwan (undergraduate student)
  • Ester Pierce (undergraduate student)
  • Alex Morrissey (undergraduate student)
  • Julia Steele (undergraduate student)
  • Tatiana Rogova (undergraduate student)
  • Sarah Hill (undergraduate student)
  • Joshua Graham (undergraduate student)
  • Dennis Dobrovolsky (undergraduate student)
  • Timur Adrianov (undergraduate student)
  • Katherine Burton (undergraduate student)
  • Dmitry Pichugin (undergraduate student)
  • Claire Willmer (undergraduate student)
  • Benjamin Ding (undergraduate student)
  • Natalia Ivanova (undergraduate student)
  • Seamus Corlett (undergraduate student)
  • Monica Mitrache (undergraduate student)
  • Simon Popovic (undergraduate student)
  • Aditya Natarajan (undergraduate student)
  • Adelle Vandersteen (undergraduate student)
  • Stafford Bronte-Tinkew (undergraduate student)
  • Alicja Koprianiuk (undergraduate student)
  • Agniezhka Zaucha (undergraduate student)
  • Karen Skonieczny (undergraduate student)
  • Omar Green (undergraduate student)
  • Simon Popovic (undergraduate student)
  • Atang Peloewetse (undergraduate student)
  • Nuro Khasanzode (undergraduate student)

Visiting scholars:

  • Verena Buback (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Helen Gallon (visiting scholar from U.K.)
  • Armin Welker (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Frauke Weidlich (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Marola Lenhard (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Thomas Schneider (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Niklas Heine (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Christina Retich (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Leo Gonzales (visiting scholar from Cuba)
  • Lukas Veth (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Stephanie Meyer (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Christiaan van Campenhout (visiting scholar from the Netherlands)
  • Fiona Sprang (visiting scholar from Germany)
  • Amelie Gutmann (visiting scholar from Germany)

Technicians:

  • Chung Woo Fung (technician)
  • Megan St. Denis (technician)
  • Anastasia Bogdanchikova (technician)