TPCB Faculty
Derek Tan, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Education
PhD, 2000, Harvard University
BS, 1995, Stanford University
Research Topics
- Bioactive Small Molecules
- Chemical methodology
- Total synthesis
- Rational drug design
- Diversity-oriented synthesis
- High-throughput screening assays
- Chemical probe development
- Computational Chemistry
- Cheminformatics
Therapeutic Areas
- Cancer
- Microbiology
A significant, current challenge in chemical biology and drug discovery is to identify small molecule probes and therapeutic lead compounds to address novel biological targets. The Tan lab is engaged in a two-pronged approach to this problem involving diversity-oriented synthesis and rational design as complementary approaches to ligand discovery. At the core of these efforts is the development of new synthetic methodologies to provide flexible, efficient, systematic access to these structures. We leverage multidisciplinary collaborations with biologists to evaluate the molecules we synthesize with the long-term goals of probing key biological processes and exploring new therapeutic opportunities in cancer and infectious diseases.
Read more about Prof. Tan’s research on the Sloan Kettering website