Professor Corinna Schindler (University of Michigan)
Corinna was born and raised in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany. As an undergraduate at the Technical University of Munich, she worked in the area of organometallic chemistry. Upon completion of her Diploma Thesis at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla in the laboratory of K.C. Nicolaou, she joined the research group of Erick M. Carreira at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland for her graduate studies. During her time in the Carreira group Corinna worked on developing novel synthetic methodologies as well as successful synthetic strategies to access Banyaside A and Microcin SF608. For her postdoctoral studies, Corinna joined the laboratory of Eric N. Jacobsen at Harvard University as a Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Fellow to work in the field of asymmetric catalysis.
Professor Matthew Disney (The Scripps Research Institute)
Matthew Disney, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, received his early schooling in the Baltimore Catholic School System, his B.S. from the University of Maryland, and his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. His laboratory is focused on understanding RNA-ligand interactions, and using this information to rationally design small molecules that modulate and study RNA function or toxicity from only sequence. His laboratory has recently reported success targeting RNA repeat expansions that cause incurable genetic disorders and various non-coding RNAs involved in cancer.
Margaret Chu-Moyer (VP, Research and Head of Chemistry, Characterization & Technology, Amgen, Inc)
Margaret Chu-Moyer joined Amgen in 2009 and is currently head of Amgen’s Chemistry, Characterization, Technology & Externalization group, spanning Amgen’s research sites in South San Francisco and Thousand Oaks, CA. Her group encompasses medicinal chemistry, separation sciences, structure, biophysics, analytical sciences, computational & data sciences, materials management, high-throughput screening, research automation, bioassay and chemistry/biologics outsourcing, including a broad collaboration with Syngene in Bangalore, India. As part of the Therapeutic Discovery group that is responsible for delivering clinical candidates across all of Amgen’s various modalities – from monoclonal antibodies to peptides to small molecules – Margaret’s organization is accountable for advancing the small molecule portfolio across Amgen’s therapeutic research areas, namely Cardiometabolic Diseases, Inflammation and Oncology, for which recent clinical candidates include AMG 176, AMG 397, AMG 510, AMG 594 and AMG 650. Margaret also held the role of Site Head for Amgen’s Cambridge, MA research facility from 2010 to 2014. Prior to joining Amgen, Margaret led both Medicinal Chemistry and Hit-To-Lead groups at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Groton, CT in the Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases therapeutic area. Margaret received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale University, in the area of natural products total synthesis. Margaret currently serves on the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters Editorial Advisory Board, the Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry and Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters Editorial Advisory Board, the Boston Children’s Hospital Technology Development Fund Advisory Board, the American Cancer Society Cancer Drug Discovery Peer Review Committee and the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry Strategic Advisory Board. She was recently honored as one of 2019’s Fiercest Women in Life Sciences.
Professor Martin Burke (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Dr. Marty Burke is the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation, and Associate Dean for Research, Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Dr. Burke’s group has pioneered the field of molecular prosthetics, and the development of an automated Lego-like platform for democratizing small molecule synthesis. Dr. Burke has received a number of honors and awards, including the Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry from the American Chemical Society and has garnered praise for excellence in teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Burke, is an Academic Founder/Co-Founder of Revolution Medicines, Ambys Medicines, Sfunga Therapeutics, and cystetic Medicines, and is currently leading the SHIELD team at The University of Illinois, which is performing fast and frequent testing for all of our staff, faculty and students.