- 2005-Present: Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
- 2000-2005: Associate Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences/Dept. of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
- 1995-2000: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Molecular Pharm. & Biological Chem. Member, Drug Discovery Program and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL.
- 1992-1995: Lecturer and Habilitand, Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
- 2013 Alexander Rich Lectureship, MIT
- Faculty member, Department of Biophysics and Chemical Biology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (WCU/BK21 PLUS Programs)
- 2009 Elected AAAS Fellow (Chemistry)
- 2006 Visiting Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
- 2005 Visiting Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
- 2005 Vanderbilt Chancellor Award (KaiABC circadian clock, with C. H. Johnson)
- 1989-1992 Postdoctoral fellow, Alexander Rich (deceased 2015), Dept. of Biology, M.I.T., Cambridge MA, U.S.A.
- 1986-1988 Ph.D Thesis, Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, ETH-Zurich
- Advisors: Vladimir Prelog (Nobel laureate, Chemistry, 1975; deceased 1998), Jack D. Dunitz (deceased 2021), Max Dobler (deceased 2019)
- 1984 Diploma, Dept. of Chemistry, ETH-Zurich. Advisor: Jack D. Dunitz
- 1980-1984 Undergraduate, Dept. of Chemistry, ETH-Zurich
2000 - Present: Classes Taught at Vanderbilt:
- "Protein design" (Seniors, enrollment 20-30)
- "Introduction to the biological sciences" (Freshmen, enrollment 200+)
- "RNA structure and biology", "Biomolecular X-ray crystallography" and "Scientific Communication" (Graduate courses)
1995 - Present: Participated in courses in the Dept of Molec. Pharmac. & Biolog. Chem, e.g. "Advanced topics in drug discovery" and "Macromolecular structure and function".
1992 - 1995: Teaching organic synthesis lab course for pharmacology undergraduate students, ETH-Zurich.
1990: Instructed sections of an X-ray crystallography course for graduate students at the Dept. of Biology, M.I.T.
1987 - 1988: Supervisor of chemical crystallography course for under- graduate students, Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, ETH-Zurich.
Presentations
- Har Gobind Khorana Centennial, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge MA, December 9, 2022.
- Fritz Eckstein 90th Birthday Symposium, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany, November 14, 2022.
- International Roundtable on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids (IRT3NA), Karolinska University, Stockholm, Sweden, August 31, 2022.
- 105th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CCCE), Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology, Calgary, Canada, June 14, 2022.
- Pacifichem Congress, Honolulu, HI, December 16-21, 2021.
- 17th Annual Meeting of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, September 26-29, 2021.
- International Roundtable on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids (IRT3NA), Karolinska University, Stockholm, Sweden; shifted to August 2022.
- Gordon Research Conference, Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Oligonucleotides, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI; shifted to June/July 2022.
- American Chemical Society, Fall Meeting, Atlanta, GA, August 25, 2021.
- Materials Research Society, Fall Meeting, Organ-on-a-Chip - Toward Personalized Precision Medicine, Boston, MA, November 30, 2020.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, RNA and Oligonucleotide Therapeutics, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, March 27-30, 2019.
- American Chemical Society, 257th National Meeting, Orlando, FL, March 31-April 4, 2019
- University of Massachusetts Medical School, RNA Therapeutics Institute, Worcester, MA, May 16, 2019.
- Department of Drug Discovery, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, August 2, 2019.
- Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Meeting 2019, Nucleic Acid Functional Interference Techniques, Munich, Germany, October 14, 2019.
- The 77th Annual Pittsburgh Diffraction Conference, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, October 25, 2019.
- Volkswagen Foundation, Status-Symposium on "Life", Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, Germany, December 10-11, 2019.
- 3rd International Conference on Proteins and Peptides, Structure, Function and Biotechnology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, July 23-26, 2018.
- 62nd Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, 8th Annual Biopolymers In Vivo Subgroup Symposium, San Francisco, CA, February 17-21, 2018.
- Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY, October 17, 2017.
- 7th Cambridge Symposium on Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Biology, Queens' College, Cambridge, UK, September 3-6, 2017.
- American Chemical Society, 253rd National Meeting, Division of Biological Chemistry, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics: Mechanisms & Applications, San Francisco, CA, April 3, 2017.
- Department of Drug Discovery, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, January 20, 2017.
- Department of Chemistry, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, October 25, 2016.
- 41st ACS Northeast Regional Meeting, SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, October 7, 2016.
- Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Meeting 2016, Advances in Oligonucleotide Medicinal Chemistry, Montreal, Canada, September 26, 2016.
- 2nd International Conference on Proteins and Peptides, Structure, Function and Biotechnology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, July 22-25, 2016.
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, May 25, 2016.
- 18th Annual TIDES Oligonucleotide and Peptide Therapeutics Meeting, Long Beach, CA, May 9, 2016.
- Pacifichem 2015, Bench to Bedside: Chemistry of Healthcare, Oligonucleotide Therapeutics: From Bench to Bedsides, Honolulu, HI, December 15, 2015.
- Alexander Rich Memorial Service, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, November 7&8, 2015.
- American Chemical Society, Nashville section, Science Cafe at Discovery Center, Murfreesboro, TN, October 22, 2015.
- Amercian Chemical Society, 250th National Meeting, Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, Advances in Oligonucleotide Therapeutics, Boston, MA, August 16, 2015.
- Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany, October 6, 2014.
- Department of Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, October 2, 2014.
- Department of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, October 1, 2014.
- Second Doktorandenseminar, German Society of Nucleic Acid Chemistry (DNG), Bad Herrenalb, Germany, September 29-30, 2014.
- New Frontiers in Neutron Macromolecular Crystallography Workshop, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, July 15-16, 2014.
- 24th Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR) meeting, Big Sky, MT, June 14-18, 2014.
- Alex in Wonderland II - A Symposium for Alexander Rich on the occasion of his 90th birthday, MIT, Media Lab, Cambridge, MA 02139, June 10-11, 2014.
- Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, April 15, 2014.
- Dept. of Drug Discovery, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, March 15, 2014.
- Structural Biology, Biomaterials and Bioengineering Workshop, University of California San Diego, San Diego, January 18-19, 2014.
- Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, October 30, 2013
- Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics, The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, October 25, 2013.
- Third International Conference of the Chemical and Structural Biology of Nucleic Acids and Proteins, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, September 13-15, 2013.
- Peptides and Proteins Congress, LeMans, France, July 27, 2013.
- Frontiers in Neutron Structural Biology, Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, April 17, 2013.
- Alexander Rich Award Lecture, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Biology, Cambridge, MA 02139, April 9, 2013.
- XX IRT - 20th International Roundtable on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 5-9, 2012.
- "Alex in Wonderland-Berlin: The Recent Excitement in Nucleic Acids, Peptides and Proteins" (88th Birthday Celebration, Alex Rich, MIT), Berlin, Germany, July 20-23, 2012.
- Tennessee Tech University, Annual Sigma Xi Lecture, Cookeville, TN, April 20, 2012.
- American Chemical Society, 243rd National Meeting, Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, San Diego, CA, March 28, 2012.
- Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry, Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Carlsbad, CA, March 27, 2012.
- Department of Biophysics and Chemical Biology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, December 21, 2011.
- Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, November 3, 2011.
- 7th Annual Meeting of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 8-10, 2011.
- American Chemical Society, 242th National Meeting, Division of Chemical Toxicology, Founders' Award Symposium, Denver, CO, August 28, 2011.
- Gordon Research Conference on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Oligonucleotides, Newport, RI, July 3-8, 2011.
- Canadian Society of Chemistry, Symposium "Nucleic Acids Chemistry and Biology", Montreal, Quebec, CA, June 5-9, 2011.
- Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry, Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Carlsbad, CA, October 8, 2010.
- Structural Biology Symposium, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, September 30, 2010
- American Chemical Society, 240th National Meeting, Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, Recognition of DNA: Recent Advances, Boston, MA, August 25, 2010
- Institute of Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, April 13, 2010.
- NIEHS Center, Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, March 29, 2010
- Dept. of Chemistry, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, February 26, 2010
- Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, CA, February 5, 2010.
- Biophysics Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, January 14, 2010
- Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Structure, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain, November 18, 2009
- 67th Annual Pittsburgh Diffraction Society Meeting, RNA Structure, Athens, GA, October 29, 2009.
- INDABA-6, Structure and Properties, Kruger National Park, South Africa, August 30-September 4, 2009.
- American Chemical Society, 238th National Meeting, Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, RNA Targeting, Nucleic Acids and Analogs, Washington DC, August 18, 2009.
- Dept. of Chemistry, The State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, December 5, 2008.
- Dept. of Drug Discovery, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, November 11, 2008.
- Dept. of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, November 5, 2008.
- Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, October 3, 2008.
- American Chemical Society, 236th National Meeting. Philadelphia, PA, Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, August 19, 2008.
- American Chemical Society, 234th National Meeting, Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions: Experimental and Modeling Analysis, Division of Computers in Chemistry, Boston, MA. August 20, 2007.
- American Chemical Society, 234th National Meeting, Wolfrom/Isbell/New Investigator Award Symposium, Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry, Boston, MA. August 19, 2007.
- Dept. of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, May 3, 2007
- Vladimir Prelog Memorial Lecture, The Jubilee XX Croatian Meeting of Chemists and Chemical Engineers, Zagreb, Croatia, February 27-March 1, 2007.
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, February 26, 2007.
- INDABA-5, Models, Mysteries and Magic of Molecules, Kruger National Park, South Africa, August 20-25, 2006.
- Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, August 18, 2006.
- First International Conference on Nanobiomedical Technology and Structural Biology, Chengdu, China, June 25-28, 2006.
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK, May 11, 2006.
- Dept. of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. December 1, 2005.
- The XX Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCR Congress). Florence, Italy, August 23-31, 2005
- Dept. of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, April 8, 2005.
- Dept. of Biochemistry, Tufts University, School of Medicine, Boston, MA, March 17, 2005.
- Dept. of Life Sciences, Proteomics Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea, Dec. 27, 2004.
- Dept. of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Dec. 21, 2004.
- The Sixth International Meeting on Recognition Studies in Nucleic Acids (NACON VI). Sheffield, UK, April 4-8, 2004.
- Dept. of Chemistry, Wake Forest University. Winston-Salem, NC. November 19, 2003.
- RNA Society of North Carolina. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. November 18, 2003.
- Workshop on "Neutron Macromolecular Crystallography at the SNS". Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne IL. October 2-3, 2003.
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) Conference. Ottawa, Canada. August 10-15, 2003.
- Albany 2003: The 13th Conversation in Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. The State University of New York, Albany, NY. June 17-21, 2003.
- Nucleic Acids Gordon Conference. Nucleic Acid Modifications and Therapeutics Session. Salve Regina University, Newport, RI. June 1-6, 2003.
- American Chemical Society, 225th - National Meeting. New Orleans, LA. March 23-27, 2003.
- Dept. of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University Medical School. Nashville, TN. November 4, 2002.
- Dept. of Biochemistry, Tufts University Medical School. Boston, MA. October 8, 2002.
- Dept. of Biology, MIT, Macromolecular Structure & Function Seminar. Cambridge, MA. October 7, 2002.
- The Seventh International Meeting on RNase H Chemistry and Biology. Tsuruoka, Japan. September 25-28. 2002.
- The XIX Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCR Congress). Geneva, Switzerland. August 6-15, 2002.
- European Symposium on Bio-Organic Chemistry. Gregynog, Powys, Wales, UK. May 10-13, 2002.
- Dept. of Chemistry, Brooklyn College (CUNY), Brooklyn, NY. September 28, 2001.
- The Fifth International Meeting on Recognition Studies in Nucleic Acids (NACON V). Sheffield, UK, April 9-12, 2001.
- The 2000 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies. Honolulu, Hawaii. December 14-19, 2000.
- International Symposium on the Development of New Structural Biology Including Hydrogen Bonding and Hydration. Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. October 27-29, 2000.
- RNA structure meeting, University of California at Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz, CA. July 12-16, 2000.
- European Symposium on Bioorganic Chemistry. Gregynog, Powys, Wales, UK. May 12-15, 2000.
- Dept. of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, MA. May 1, 2000.
- Dept. of Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology. Chicago, IL. April 24, 2000.
- Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center Seminar Series, Northwestern University. Chicago, IL. January 5, 2000.
- School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. October 12, 1999.
- American Chemical Society, 218th National Meeting, New Orleans, LA. August 25, 1999.
- Gordon Research Conference, Purines, Pyrimidines and Related Substances, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI. July 4-9, 1999.
- Dept. of Biology, M.I.T., Cambridge, MA. May 9, 1999.
- Dept. of Molecular Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. May 6, 1999.
- International Summer School, Nucleic Acid Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. June 4 — 9, 1999.
- Merck Basic Research Center (IRBM P. Angeletti), Rome, Italy. March 22, 1999.
- Dept. of Biochemistry, Center for Toxicology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN. February 24, 1999.
- International Carbohydrate Symposium, University of California San Diego, CA. August 10, 1998.
- Dept. of Biology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. March 27, 1998.
- Second NIH Symposium on Therapeutic Oligonucleotides: Targeting Transcription Factors and Signaling Pathways, Washington, D.C. December 5, 1997.
- 55th Pittsburgh Diffraction Conference, Athens, GA. November 6 - 8, 1997.
- Dept. of Chemistry, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. November 5, 1997.
- 38th International Symposium on: Regulation of Enzyme Activity and Synthesis in Normal and Neoplastic Tissues, University of Indiana Medical School, Indianapolis. September 29 - 30, 1997.
- 4th Cambridge Symposium on: Oligonucleotide Chemistry & Biology, Queens' College, Cambridge, U.K. August 31 - September 3, 1997.
- Laboratory for Medicinal Chemistry, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Center, Bethesda, MD. March 17, 1997.
- Depts. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL,. December 12, 1996.
- Vienna Biocenter, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. October 31, 1996.
- Dept. of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, MA. October 22, 1996.
- Hoffmann-La Roche Symposium: Novel Synthetic Methods 1996, Gersau, Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. September 15 - 18, 1996.
- Intl. Union of Crystallography XVII and American Crystallographic Association (ACA) Congress and General Assembly, Seattle, WA. August 8 - 17, 1996.
- First Annual Meeting of the RNA Society, University of Madison, WI. May 29, 1996.
- Colloquium RNA Biochemistry, Assembly of the study section members and supported researchers within the DFG (German Natl. Science Foundation), Bamberg, Germany. May 20, 1996.
- Boston Area RNA Meeting, M.I.T. April 1, 1996.
- Central Research Laboratories, CIBA Ltd., Basel, Switzerland. September, 1995.
- Colloquium RNA Biochemistry, Assembly of the study section members and supported researchers within the DFG (German Natl. Science Foundation), Bayreuth, Germany. April 4, 1995.
- Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RPI), Boulder, CO. March 24, 1995.
- Dept. of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL. March 20, 1995.
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- American Biophysical Society
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- American Crystallographic Association (ACA)
- Intl. Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL)
- Intl. Society for Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids (IS3NA)
- New Swiss Chemical Society (NSCG)
- Sigma Psi Society (M.I.T. Chapter)
- Swiss Crystallographic Society (SKG)
