Core B: Personnel
Mr. David Hill specializes in the operation of laboratory instrumentation, including the Chemspeed SLT100 Automated Synthesizer, for which he is a Center super-user. In addition to validating new chemical methodologies and producing compound libraries, David handles equipment maintenance for over $6.5 million worth of equipment, consumable sourcing and procurement, budgeting, and compound management. Additionally, David serves as the Laboratory Safety Supervisor ensuring compliance with Environmental, Health, and Safety procedures as well as EPA and KDHE requirements. In his spare time, David is studying toward a second degree, in Business Administration. Dr. Prashi Jain is from India. She received her B.S. degree in Pharmacy and M.S. degree in Medicinal Chemistry from RGPV University, India. She obtained her PhD at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh under the supervision of Dr. Patrick T. Flaherty. Her doctoral research focused on development of small heterocyclic inhibitors of CDK5 and MEK5 as potential therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease based on benzimidazole, aminothiazole and diketopiperazine scaffolds. She joined the KU-CMLD in November 2011 as a postdoctoral researcher. Her current work in includes construction of combinatorial substituted isatin libraries based on redox amination, benzoxzole libraries utilizing acylation and metal catalyzed cross coupling, and synthesis of oxazaspirocycles from 3-azetinone. Dr. Michael McLeod was born in Reading, UK in 1983. He received a first class MSci degree in chemistry from the University of Nottingham, UK. Remaining at the same institution, Michael obtained a PhD under the supervision of Professor Barry Lygo. His postgraduate research included the development of methodology to allow highly enantioselective Michael additions of glycine imines and its application to the total synthesis of biologically active alkaloids. He then took up a postdoctoral position with Professor Margaret Brimble at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he completed an asymmetric total synthesis of the natural product berkelic acid. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Jeffrey Aubé at the University of Kansas, US, where his research involves the preparation of natural product-inspired libraries for biological screening. Dr. Digamber S. Rane hails from Mumbai, India. He attended the University of Mumbai in Mumbai where he received a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in organic chemistry. He completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Mukund Sibi at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. His Ph.D. research focused on development of Lewis and Brønsted acid catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher working on the application of tandem [4+2]/ Schmidt reaction towards natural product synthesis and development of small molecule libraries. Dr. Frank J. Schoenen serves as a Senior Investigator on Core B. Dr. Schoenen is also the Associate Director of the KU Specialized Chemistry Center. Formerly, Frank was the Associate Director of the CMLD center and serves in an advisory capacity for the Synthesis Core as well as being a member of the CMLD steering committee.
