Interface of Chemistry & Biology - RSC Desktop Seminar series with ChemComm

Dr. Mingxu You is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University in 2008, and his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Florida in 2012.  During his graduate study with Prof. Weihong Tan, Dr. You developed several DNA-based nanodevices for cancer diagnosis and cell membrane analysis.  Dr. You further pursued his postdoctoral research with Prof. Samie R. Jaffrey at Weill Cornell Medicine, interested in developing RNA-based fluorescent sensors for cellular imaging.  Dr. You started his independent career at UMass Amherst in 2016.  His laboratory is now applying nature’s building blocks, DNA/RNA, to develop next-generation platforms for disease diagnostics and therapy.  Dr. You has been recognized in several awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, NIH MIRA, NSF CAREER, and ACS Burlew Award.  In addition, he has been recognized as an Emerging Investigator in journals including Analytical Methods, Supramolecular Chemistry, Frontiers in Chemistry, Materials Chemistry Frontiers, Nanoscale, and ChemComm.

Amanda E. Hargrove is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Duke University. Prof. Hargrove earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin followed by an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech.  Prof. Hargrove’s laboratory at Duke focuses on developing small molecule probes to investigate the structure and function of RNA molecules relevant to human disease. The lab works to understand the fundamental drivers of selective small molecule:RNA recognition and to use this knowledge to functionally modulate viral and oncogenic RNA structures. Congruent with the interdisciplinary nature of this program, Prof. Hargrove holds a secondary appointment in the Biochemistry Department and membership in the Duke Cancer Institute, the Pharmaceutical Sciences Training Program, and the Center for Biological and Tissue Engineering. Recent honors include the Sloan Research Fellowship, American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award, Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize in Supramolecular Chemistry, ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship, RSC Medicinal Chemistry Emerging Investigator Lectureship, and the NSF CAREER Award. Prof. Hargrove serves as Editor-in-Chief of Medicinal Research Reviews and is a member of the ChemComm, Current Protocols, and Supramolecular Chemistry editorial advisory boards.