Christopher G. Parker, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 2024 - present
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 2022-2024
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 2018 - 2022
American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, The Scripps Research Institute (Ben Cravatt), 2013-2018
Ph.D., Yale University (David Spiegel), 2007-2013
B.S., Case Western Reserve University (Phil Garner), 2003-2007
cparker at scripps.edu
STAFF
Louis Conway received a PhD in chemistry from Durham University in 2014. He then worked as a process chemist at Syngenta before carrying out postdoctoral research in glycoscience at Nanjing Agricultural University. In 2017 he moved to Sweden to work on chemical-biological approaches to metabolomics in the Globisch group at Uppsala University. He joined Prof. Parker's research group in October 2019, where he is currently working on chemical proteomics.
Louis Conway, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Amina is from San Diego, California. She received a BS in General Biology from University of California, San Diego. Amina started her career as a chemical analyst performing CA ELAP and AIHA-LAP accredited organic and inorganic testing of air, water, oil, and solids in addition to also working as a technician in a clinical laboratory specializing in providing quantitative drug testing. Interested in pursuing research, Amina went on to work in drug discovery as a research assistant at Calibr, where she developed and optimized in-vitro and biochemical assays for high-throughput screening of compounds. In July 2023, Amina joined the Parker lab and is excited to provide technical and operational support.
Amina Ta
Lab Manager
Born and raised in India, Dr. Jadhav received his master's degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Pune, India in 2006, following which, he had a brief stint in the industry working with pharmaceutical companies like Jubilant Chemsys Ltd and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Afterwards, Dr. Jadhav began his PhD studies in synthetic organic chemistry with focus on development of new organic reaction and their use in medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences, from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan and successfully completed it in 2013. Subsequently, he held a post-doctoral position in at The Ohio State University, where he worked on design and synthesis of new clinical candidates, their structural modifications and biological activity studies. Since October, 2018, Dr. Jadhav joined the laboratory of Prof. Parker’s research group in Scripps Research Institute, where he is interested in using chemical proteomics to illuminate protein-metabolite interactions and study solute carrier (SLC) transport and function.
Appaso Jadhav, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Wesley is from Jiangsu province in China. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and master’s degree in Chemical Biology in Peking University Health Science Center. During his master’s research in Dr. Runtao Li’s lab, Wesley focused on developing new organocatalytic reactions to synthesize novel small molecules from the naturally occurring heterocycle Butenolides. After that he moved to US and earned his PhD degree in Chemical Biology in Dr. Wenshe Liu’s lab of Texas A & M University, where he received training in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His PhD research was focused on elucidation of epigenetic mechanisms using nucleosomes assembled in vitro with site specific post-translation modifications (PTM). His major accomplishment was the discovery of new deacetylation target sites for SIRT6 and SIRT7, which play important roles in gene function regulation by removing Nε-acetylation from histone lysines. Wesley joined Dr. Parker’s lab as a postdoctoral associate from January, 2019. He is interested in developing new chemical strategies to modulate PTMs and PPIs
Wei (Wesley) Wang, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Weichao is from Shanghai in China. He earned his master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry as a dual culture candidate of Nanchang University and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, CAS. During his master research in Dr. Yang Ye’s lab, Weichao focused on natural product identification and synthesis researches. Then he joined Dr. Youli Xiao’s lab in Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, SIBS, CAS as a Ph. D. candidate. His research was focus on design and implementation novel chemical biology applications to elucidate biological targets of bioactive molecules emerging from phenotypic screens to clarify the mechanisms. His major accomplishment is using affinity/activity-based proteomic strategy to profile the functional state of enzyme targets in native biological systems to assess the potency and selectivity of small molecule inhibitors. Since Feb. 2019, Weichao joined in both Dr. Parker and Dr. Huang’s lab as a joint postdoctoral associate, where he is interested in using chemoproteomics to investigate the relationship of cell transition and small molecules.
Weichao Li, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Julian was born and raised right outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. in Chemistry and a minor in biology from WashU, where he spent much of his undergraduate time developing a method for the kinetic resolution of chiral hydroxamic acids in the lab of Professor Vlad Birman. He also spent a year in a computational quantum chemistry group characterizing the spectroscopic behavior of thiophene under Professor Kade Head-Marsden. Since joining the Parker lab in June 2024 as a research assistant, he has been a part of the effort to discover new ligands for E3 ligases in the context of targeted protein degradation. In the future, Julian hopes to apply for MD-PhD programs and to eventually use his experience in chemical biology to guide research in a clinical setting.
Julian Liao
Research Assistant
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATES
Christian was born in El Paso, Texas in 1991 and grew up in the lone star state. He spent his formative years in Austin, TX where he was student of the month in middle school. After graduating high school at Lake Travis, he went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Science in biological chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington, where he developed a keen interest in synthetic organic chemistry in the lab of Dr. Alejandro Bugarin. Christian then earned his Ph.D. studying natural product total synthesis in the research group of Prof Daniel Romo first at Texas A&M (2014-2015) then at Baylor University (2015-2020). His dissertation centered around the oxazolomycin natural products, bioactive pyroglutamate spiro-b-lactone-containing peptide-polyketides. Christian joined the Parker group at Scripps in March of 2021 with an aim to apply his training in organic synthesis in the realm of chemical proteomics.
Christian Chaheine, Ph.D.
Born in southern France, Clara received her BSc in Chemistry from ETH Zurich (CH), after which she underwent a MSc in Phytochemistry at UCL in London (UK). Following several industrial placements at Givaudan and BASF, she developed an interest in learning the ropes behind the design of medicinally active molecules. She obtained her PhD in medicinal chemistry from UCL in the Selwood/Chan and Balda/Matter Lab, focussing on computationally assisted drug discovery of Rho-GEF protein-protein interaction inhibitors. During her PhD, Clara got hands-on bioassay development experience and collaborated closely with cell biologists, raising her interest in interdisciplinary science and in methods to accelerate drug discovery in general. She joined the Parker Lab in September 2023 as a postdoctoral associate, where she seeks to research phenotype-driven ligand and target discovery, combining her previous Med Chem experience for library synthesis and the Parker lab's expertise in proteomic approaches. In her free time, Clara likes dancing and loves to travel to the most remote places on the earth.
Clara Gathmann, Ph.D.
Roy obtained his Masters' degree in chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India where he worked on the diversity-oriented synthesis of natural product analogs. He earned his PhD degree in organic chemistry from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, India. During his PhD (2011-2017) at the lab of Prof. Santanu Mukherjee, he focused on the development of organocatalysis methodologies for the enantioselective synthesis of diverse novel chemical scaffolds. He joined the lab of Prof. Abhishek Chatterjee at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA in July 2018 where his research was focused on the development and applications of genetic code expansion techniques for site-selective protein bioconjugation and time-resolved proteomics. Roy joined Prof. Parker’s lab in April 2023 with a motivation to contribute to the development of bifunctional molecules to re-direct protein function.
Soumya Jyoti Singha Roy, Ph.D.
Junchen was born in Yangpu, Shanghai. After graduating from high school, he went to Peking University in 2015, where he developed his interest in complex natural product total synthesis. In 2019, following his undergraduate study, Junchen join the Baran lab to complete the first total synthesis and structural diversification of portimine A and B, which led to the target identification and elucidation of the mechanism of action of these bioactive natural products. Since May. 2023, Junchen joined in the Parker lab as a postdoctoral associate, aiming at wedding synthetic chemical tools and chemoproteomics to discover new biological active molecules.
Junchen Tang, Ph.D.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Inès is from Lorraine in France. After 2 years of undegraduate school, she received the equivalent of a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Physics at the European School of Chemistry, Polymers and Materials (ECPM) in Strasbourg. She then started her graduate studies at Sigma-Clermont in Clermont-Ferrand, and specialized in Organic Chemistry and natural products. At the end of her 2nd year, Inès was selected to take part in a dual Master’s degree program at the University of Oklahoma. Under the mentorship of Dr. Anthony Burgett, she worked on the identification of synthetic bioactive natural products targeting oxysterol-binding proteins for the potential development of broad-spectrum antiviral and precision anticancer therapeutics .In June 2020, she graduated with two Master’s degrees: one in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from France, and one in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the US. In September 2020, she started her PhD in Chemical Biology and decided to join Dr. Parker’s lab, where she is interested in developing heterobifunctional molecules to redirect PTMs.
Inès Forrest, M.S.
4th Yr
Ford Foundation Fellow
Steven (Tzu-Yuan) is from Taipei, Taiwan. He earned his bachelor's degree in Material Sciences and Engineering from National Taiwan University. During undergraduates, he revealed his interests and decided to pursue his master's degree in Molecular Medicine from National Taiwan University. Steven focused on lipoprotein function and metabolism in mice in Hsin-Fang Yang-Yen's lab in Academia Sinica, Taiwan, from 2014-2016. In 2018, he joined Jung-Chi Liao's lab in Academia Sinica as a research assistant. He dug into phosphoinositol regulation in the immune synapse in T cells and primary cilia-centriole ultrastructure using dSTORM super-resolution microscopy. In Nov 2020, he started his Ph.D. at Scripps. He joined Dr. Parker's lab, where he is interested in developing chemical tools to target immune-related solute carrier family proteins and to discover new potential therapeutic targets for autoimmune diseases.
Steven (Tzu-Yuan) Chiu, M.S.
4th Yr
Brandon is from Winchester, Massachusetts. In May 2021 he received his BS/MS in bioengineering with a concentration in cell and tissue engineering from Northeastern University. In 2019, Brandon completed a co-op placement in Celgene’s chemical biology and proteomics group. While at Celgene, Brandon characterized covalent probes, developed degradation assays, and performed chemical proteomics to profile the binding proteome of lead chemical series. In 2020, Brandon completed another co-op placement with Dr. Angela Koehler at MIT. During his time in the Koehler lab Brandon surveyed the target tractability of a panel of RNA-binding proteins. In October 2021, Brandon joined Dr. Parker’s lab where he is interested in developing novel chemical strategies to observe chemically induced protein-protein interactions.
Brandon Ng
3rd yr
Skaggs Fellow
Kaylin grew up in the Twin Cities, Minnesota before receiving her Bachelor’s degree at Cornell University in biological sciences in 2022. During her undergraduate career, she was drawn to the intersection of chemistry and biology in the lab of Prof. Mikail Abbasov, which introduced her to the field of chemoproteomics. There, she became enthusiastic about organic synthesis while developing aminophilic bifunctional molecules to study targeted protein degradation. She joined the Parker Lab with a desire to expand her chemical proteomic interests and to explore the druggable proteome.
Kaylin Ro
2nd Yr
Alisa (Qijia) is from Jilin in China. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and master’s degree in Chemical Biology in Peking University Health Science Center. During her master research in Dr. Suwei Dong’s lab, she studied glycosylation of amyloid proteins using chemical methods. In December 2022, she joined Dr. Parker’s lab where she is interested in exploring cell state-dependent ligandability with chemoproteomics.
Alisa (Qijia) Wei
2nd Yr
Hou Wang Fellowship in the Skaggs Graduate School
INTERNS
Jieyin is from Sichuan, China. She is a senior undergraduate from Nankai University, majoring in Chemical Biology. During her undergraduate career, she spent a year conducting research on the total synthesis of natural products in Dr. Jun Deng’s lab, where she developed a strong interest in organic synthesis and hopes to further utilize chemical techniques to address biological problems. Since joining the Parker lab as an intern in August 2024, she has been a part of the effort to develop atropoprobes for discovering functional sites in proteins. In the future, Jieyin hopes to apply for PhD programs in chemical biology
Jieyin Liu
Visiting Intern
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
Experienced administrative professional with a bachelor’s in business administration. A background in contract management, financial management, research and reporting, and project supervision. Being a new addition to Scripps in 2021, is excited to be an additional support to the biomedical research realm and to aid Dr. Parker in his endeavors in science.
Colton Bennett
Laboratory Administrative Coordinator
LAB VOLUNTEERS
Rosalind, a.k.a Rossi (joint w/Huang Lab)
ALUMNI
Rick Homan, Ph.D. (2019-2024 Graduate Student; currently: Revolution Medicines)
Anny (Li-Yun) Chen, Ph.D. (2019-2024 Graduate Student; currently: Amgen)
Jacob Wozniak, Ph.D. (2020-2023 Postdoctoral Associate; currently: Belharra Therapeutics)
Alex Randall (2022 High School Intern)
Hannah Olson (2022 SURF Intern; currently: Undergraduate at Concordia College)
Richard Hawkins (2018-2021 Research Assistant; currently: Research Assistant at UF Scripps High-Throughput Molecular Screening Center)
Taylor Malone (2021 SURF Intern; currently: Undergraduate student at Amherst College)
Hayden Anderson (2019 SURF Intern; currently: Ph.D. student at Stanford University)
Juanita Sanchez (2018-2020 FAU intern; currently: Ph.D. student at UNC-Chapel Hill)
Sabrina Barbas (2019-2020 joint Research Associate; currently: RA at Scripps Research)
