Ryan Murelli

Our lab is interested in studies at the interface of synthetic organic chemistry and functional molecule design and study. A major theme to our research is the development of new synthetic strategies to generate various tropone-containing molecules that enable a vast array of studies aimed at exploiting tropone's unique properties. Synthetic strategies developed in our lab are actively being used to identify new antiviral, antifungal, and anticancer targets that work through novel mechanisms of action. We are also synthesizing and studying tropone-containing molecules as environmental fluroescent probes and as photoaffinity tags for proteiomics studies. Thus, PhD students carrying out research in our lab can expect to make fundamental contributions to - and become experts in - synthetic organic chemistry, while also being exposed to cutting edge medicinal chemistry and chemical biology research.