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We are a group of chemists working at the cross sections of organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and cell biology. Our research employs diverse techniques including organic synthesis, molecular cloning, computational modeling, and library screening to discover bioactive molecules. A fundamental component of our research program is to test new concepts for molecular design and to develop novel technologies that empower the molecular discovery process. Importantly, we leverage our methodology development efforts to address some of the most pressing problems in biology. Specifically, our current ongoing projects seek to better understand the molecular underpinnings of antibiotic resistance of bacteria as well as the molecular drivers of cancer cell aggressiveness.
Highlights of Recent Publications
Efficient Bicyclization of Native Peptides Gives Novel Phage Libraries
A highlight of this paper in Chinese can be found at X-Mol.
Reversible Covalent Ligand Discovery via Phage Display
A highlight of this paper in Chinese can be found at X-Mol.
Kinetic Inhibition Made Possible with a Novel Lysine Conjugation with Slow Reversibility
Many thanks to Professor Stephan Hacker for a Nature News &Views article discussing this piece of chemistry.
A highlight of this paper in Chinese can be found at X-Mol.
G-FET Sensors of Antibiotic Resistance
(Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2020)
A BC news release on this work can be found at: Targeting infections
Group News
06/2023, two new papers of our group describes new native peptide bicyclization strategies. Check them out at Angew. Chem. and Org. Lett. Respectively.
05/2023, Nicole Wei graduates as a Scholar of the College and Raquel Cohen wins a Kozarich Fellowship for summer research, congratulations to both!
10/2022, check out our review article on Fast Cysteine Conjugation Reactions.
08/2022, our work on reversible covalent ligand discovery using chemical modified phage libraries is to publish in J. Am. Chem. Soc. This comprehensive study describe the study of 8 phage libraries screened against two target proteins, enabling a quantitative assessment of the benefit of reversible covalent lysine binding to inhibitor development.
07/2022, check out Mengmeng's new paper on backbone-side chain cyclized phage libraries in Chemical Science.
06/2022, the work of an amazing multi-lab collaboration is now published in Nature Communications. Proud to be part of it!
05/2022, we are awarded a new NSF grant to continue our study of novel phage libraries!
03/2022, Nicole Wei receives a Kozarich Fellowship that will support her research this summer. Congrats, Nicole!
02/2022, Fajie and Mengmeng's paper on chlorooxime-mediated fast cysteine conjugation is now published in Chemistry, A European Journal has been drawing attention. It has earned a Hot Paper status.
01/2022, Rahi's paper on a novel reversible lysine conjugation chemistry is published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. , congrats Rahi! Many thanks to Professor Stephan Hacker for a Nature News &Views article discussing our chemistry.
07/2020, our joint project with Professor Weerapana wins Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Award, which will fund our adventure into cancer biology. Exciting!!!
05/2020, Kaicheng and Wenjian's paper on a really cool N-terminal cysteine conjugation reaction is now published in Angewante Chemie. This work has been highlighted by X-MOL and tweeted by the great Stuart Schreiber. Thanks so much, Professor Schreiber and X-MOL editors.
04/2020, Professor Gao receives the Graduate School 's Faculty Teaching/Mentoring Award. Congratulations, Jianmin!
04/2020, Professor Gao is elected President of CAPA, Chinese-American Chemistry & Chemical Biology Professors Association.
03/2020, Wenjian's work on bacterial detection using G-FET sensors is now officially published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Good job, Wenjian!
03/2020, Professor Gao is promoted to the rank of Full Professor of Chemistry. Congratulations, Jianmin!
11/2019, the first paper of our collaborative project with the Burch and van Opijnen labs is online in BioRxiv. Check it out at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/842187v1.
11/2019, Wenjian Wang wins a Chemistry Department Graduate Fellowship, a newly established initiative to recognize excellence of graduate research. Congrats, Wenjian.
08/2019, the Gao group receives an NIH grant to explore novel strategies for combating colistin resistant bacterial pathogens. We look forward to breaking new grounds on this front!
07/2019, the Gao group receives an NSF grant to further develop chemically enhanced phage libraries. Congratulations to all and thank you for your hard work to make this happen!
05/2019, Our work on a novel bioconjugation reaction of Tris base is now online at Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry.
04/2019, Professor Gao won the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Chinese-American Chemistry & Chemical Biology Professors Association (CAPA), congratulations!
08/2018, Sam's review article on boronic acid-mediated bioorthogonal conjugations has been accepted into Acc. Chem. Res. Congrats Sam!
05/2018, the Gao lab successfully renews our NIH grant to develop synthetic receptors for membrane lipids. Thanks to all for your hard work!
04/2018, our group's first paper on phage display of covalent warheads are published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. We are excited about the future perspectives of this novel design of peptide libraries.
04/2018, Sunny wins a Kozarich Fellowship to support his summer research; Sam has been awarded a Dissertation Fellowship; Kelly wins the Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award. Nicely done, guys!!!
12/2017, Kaicheng and Chelsea's paper is ASAP at Organic Letters. Congratulations to both of them!
10/2017, Sam's paper on fluorogenic diazaborine conjugation is now published in Chemical Communications. Congrats, Sam!
07/2017, Azade's paper that probes protein plasticity with halogenated amino acids is now published in Protein Science.
06/2017, Kaicheng's paper on an improved version of the iminoboronate-mediated cyclization is now published on SynLett. Good job, Kaicheng!
01/2017, Azade and Wenjian's Paper on Prolinomycin-based peptide design has been accepted into ChemBioChem, Congratulations!
12/2016, Our paper on the diazaborine conjugation chemistry is published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Congrats, Anupam and Sam!
09/2016, Azade Hosseini successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Hosseini!
08/2016, our review article on reversible covalent chemistry is to publish in Curr. Opion. Chem. Biol.
04/2016, our paper for N-terminal cysteine labeling is published in Chem. Sci. Good Job, Anupam and Sam!
02/2016, Anupam won 1st Prize of the Young Investigator Competition at the Peptide Gordon Conference. Congrats, Anupam!
01/2016, Chelsea and Wenjian join the group. Welcome!