Lab Location: Chemistry Building 770; 772; 734

Research in the Gustafson group strives to apply innovative chemical strategies towards complex biological problems. Ongoing projects focus on three main areas (a) The development of chemical methodologies that enable the enantioselective synthesis of complex molecules; (b) The application of these methodologies to access new selective small molecule probes pertaining to aberrant protein phosphorylation; and (c) The design, synthesis and evaluation of small molecule vanadate complexes as phosphatase inhibitors.

Graduate students who join my lab will receive a thorough training in organic chemistry (i.e. asymmetric catalysis, organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry). Cutting edge analytical techniques such as NMR spectroscopy and HPLC will be constantly utilized to analyze each reaction. Additionally, the interdisciplinary nature of this research will expose graduate students to diverse techniques from other disciplines such as molecular biology (recombinant protein synthesis and purification, Western blot analysis) and biochemistry (in vitro inhibition assays). As time progresses gifted students will be able to emphasize any or all of these areas depending on their interests. The group was established at San Diego State University, and then moved to Stony Brook University in 2024. As a new faculty member to SBU I am actively recruiting talented Undergrads and Ph.D. students to join my lab.

---Jeff

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