On October 29, 2024, the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry launched a SPARK fundraising campaign to raise seed funding for new lab purchases for our two campuswide, state-of-the-art core facilities – the Molecular Instrumentation Center (MIC) and the Biochemistry Instrumentation Core Facility (BIF). As one of the country’s top chemistry and biochemistry departments, we provide […]

Four UCLA students from Chemistry & Biochemistry labs won poster awards at the annual Southern California conference on theoretical chemistry (SoCalTheoChem) hosted at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) on October 5, 2024. The one-day regional symposium showcased cutting-edge research in theoretical chemistry through faculty talks and a poster session that highlighted the breadth […]

A team of UCLA researchers led by Professor Keriann Backus and graduate students Ashley R. Julio and Flowreen Shikwana has shed new light on the functional consequences of cysteine-reactive compounds in cells. Their discovery that compounds commonly used in screening studies can cause electrophile stress is highly significant  for understanding cellular responses to stress and […]

Alumnus Dr. Edward Mena, M.D., ’94, Medical Director of the Pasadena Liver Center—a multi-disciplinary treatment facility—and founder of the California Liver Research Institute (CLRI), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing liver disease treatments and cures, has been named the recipient of the Leadership Visionary Award by the Liver Health Foundation. A global leader in hepatology, Mena […]

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Charles and Carolyn Knobler Endowed Term Chair, thanks to a generous gift from UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty member Emeritus Professor Charles “Chuck” Knobler and his wife, Dr. Carolyn Knobler, a long-time research chemist in the department. The Knobler Chair will support a faculty member in […]

This summer, we bid farewell to former Teacher-Scholar Rajat Maji, and we welcome our newest Teacher-Scholars Martin-Louis Riu and Eric Wu. Our Teacher-Scholar program allows postdoctoral scholars to experience research and teaching at the same time as a way to prepare them for future faculty or research positions. Dr. Rajat Maji (2023-2024 Donald J. Cram […]

The department welcomes inclusive chemical education researcher Dr. Dory DeWeese, who will join the UCLA faculty as an Assistant Teaching Professor on November 1, 2024. DeWeese received a B.S. in chemistry and M.A. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA). She then received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University, where […]

On September 27, 2024, members of the department gathered to celebrate the recent promotions of Professors Keriann Backus, Prineha Narang, Ellen Sletten, and Department Chair Alex Spokoyny. Research group members of each faculty member joined the celebration to honor their advisors. We congratulated Spokoyny, who was promoted to full professor, effective July 1, 2024. Spokoyny […]