In May and June 2018, symposia in Shenzhen, China, and Vancouver, Canada, honored Ken Houk, the UCLA Saul Winstein Research Professor in Organic Chemistry.  The 2nd International Symposium on Organic Reaction Mechanisms, in Honor of Kendall N. Houk, was held May 15-16, 2018, at Peking University Graduate School in Shenzhen to honor Houk’s 75th birthday […]

Professor Jorge Torres has won the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award. The award is given annually to honor an outstanding scientist who has shown a strong commitment to encouraging underrepresented minorities to enter the scientific enterprise and who has offered effective mentorship of those within it.   […]

Professor Neil Garg has won the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education. Garg’s ASBMB award video can be viewed here and his paper, titled “How Organic Chemistry Became One of UCLA’s Most Popular Classes”, which was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry as part of his award, can […]

Six undergraduate students from four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) will contribute to research projects in department laboratories this summer. For the fourth year, the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is hosting undergraduate students from various Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields for the HBCU-Pathways in Chemistry summer program. The UC-HBCU Initiative […]

Postdoctoral fellow Calin Plesa (Sri Kosuri’s group) wins prestigious Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Career Award at the Scientific Interface (CASI). Chosen from a total applicant pool of 287, Plesa is among 11 scientists who are being honored for combining biology with the physical sciences and engineering toward medical breakthroughs. The award will allow Plesa to […]

Professors Louis Bouchard and Paul Weiss are part of team whose discovery could be a step toward developing treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. An associate professor in the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Bouchard‘s group conducts research in a variety of fields ranging from catalysis to biomedicine. They specialize in the development of measurement […]

Renovation has begun to transform 6,500 square foot former department library space on 4th floor of Young Hall into the Mani Bhaumik Centennial Collaboratory. Expected to be completed by Summer 2019, the Collaboratory will be the heart of student life in the department, providing students and faculty with a much-needed lecture hall, private meeting and […]

With the Arnold group at Caltech, Houk’s group characterizes an unusual reactive carbene intermediate in an artificial metalloenzyme that functionalizes Si-H bonds. The team’s findings were reported in a paper published in the June 26, 2018, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The group of Prof. Frances Arnold, Department of […]