Professor Jason Chen

Scripps Research - Former ISU Professor (2011-2016)

Hosted by: Wenyu Huang, Levi Stanley and Brett VanVeller

Abstract:

Beyond the Round Bottom: Transforming Academic Synthesis

The Automated Synthesis Facility at Scripps Research provides hardware, software, and services in
support of data-rich synthetic organic chemistry. Founded in 2017, the facility operates $7 million in
equipment in support of diverse projects including reaction discovery, kinetics studies, and natural
products total synthesis. The facility helps scientists to speed up research and improve data quality with
the long-term goal of enabling innovative projects and transforming organic synthesis research. Towards
these ends, the facility staff works with Scripps chemists to develop project-specific solutions and with
instrument vendors to deliver enabling technologies. Vignettes illustrating how the facility works towards
these goals will include examples from chiral reaction development, DNA-encoded library research,
isotopic labeling studies, and chemistry involving gaseous reagents.

Bio:

Dr. Chen participated in International Chemistry Olympiad in high school, 2nd place in 1997. He
received his undergrad and master’s at Harvard with Matthew Shair. Dr. Chen then worked two
years at Enanta Pharmaceuticals as a medicinal chemist working on analogs of the
immunosuppressant cyclosporin A, mostly by olefin metathesis. He then obtained his Ph.D. from
The Scripps Research Institute with K.C. Nicolaou including postdoctoral studies, with work
including total synthesis of uncialamycin (route used by BMS in antibody-drug conjugate
program), asymmetric dichlorination, and co-authorship of the book Classics in Total Synthesis
III. Dr. Chen then went to Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor working on reaction
development, total synthesis, and biorenewable materials research, where he received an NSF
CAREER and an ISU honors program teaching award. Dr. Chen then returned to Scripps
Research where he built the Automated Synthesis Facility from scratch and obtained an NIH S10
equipment grant. He is now the Senior Director overseeing the collective core facilities at
Scripps Research.