
2026 PROGRAM
We are proud to showcase the incredible work of so many local Bay Area scientists at our upcoming event. We hope you are all looking forward to the lineup of excellent speakers, including professors, students, post-docs, and industrial scientists as much as we are.


KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Industry Short Talk Speakers
TECHNICAL PROGRAM
An ACS-Sponsored Event
8:00 am
8:45 am
9:00 am
9:35 am
10:10 am
10:30 am
10:50 am
11:25 am
Breakfast and Check-in
Welcome Remarks
Michelle Arkin, UC San Francisco
Tackling Undruggable Targets 2.0
Sarah Bronner, Maze Therapeutics
Discovery of MZE829 for APOL1-Mediated Kidney Disease
William Rackear, UC Berkeley
Modulating Antigen Presentation of Autoimmune-Associated MHC-I Proteins
Coffee Break (20 min)
Cody Pitts, UC Davis
New Strategies for C–SF5 Bond Formation: Connecting Industry and Academia
Taylor Nuttall, UC Berkeley
Discovering a Stereoselective Covalent Inhibitor of the Ovarian Cancer-Driving Transcription Factor PAX8
Michael Gribble, Merck
Total Synthesis of Trabectedin
Lunch and Career Fair (1 hour)
Anna Wagner, Gilead
Development of an Alternative Three-Step Telescoped Sequence: Hydrazine Control and Throughput Improvements
Fabio Begnini, UC San Francisco
A Covalent Strategy for Selective Activation of the K2P Channel TREK-1
Chris La, UC Berkeley
Mapping the Undirected Borylation of C(sp3)–H Bonds in Strained Rings
Coffee Break (20 min)
Kristof Pota, Revolution Medicines
Targeting the Oncogenic State of RAS with Tri-Complex Inhibitors
Richmond Sarpong, UC Berkeley
Strategies and Methods for Synthesis Inspired by the Scission of Four-Membered Rings
Sponsor Recognition & Poster Instructions
Posters, Conversation & Connection
Closing Recognition & Poster Awards

11:45 pm
12:20 pm
1:20 pm
1:55 pm
2:15 pm
2:35 pm
2:55 pm
3:30 pm
4:05 pm
4:10 pm
5:55 pm
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Abigail Soliven, UC Berkeley (John Hartwig) - Difluoromethylene Units for the Construction of Fluorine-Containing Stereocenters
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Adam Pickett, UC Berkeley (Thomas Maimone) - Progress Toward the Total Synthesis of Bruceantin
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Ahit Kaan Tarhan, Stanford University (Chen) - A Covalency Saga: Design of Covalent ALDH1B1 Inhibitors
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Amy Su, Stanford University (Noah Burns) - A Convenient and Direct Conversion of Amides to Ketones
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Anna Vernier, UC Davis (David Olson) - Structure-Activity Relationship Study of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine Analogs Reveals Molecular Mechanisms of Partial Agonists at 5-HT2AR
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Cameron Paloutzian, UC Santa Cruz (Jaron Mercer) - Automated Continuous Affinity Maturation of Designed Small-Molecule-Binding Proteins for General Biosensing
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Celine Wang, UC Berkeley (Ziyang Zhang) - Stereoselective Covalent Targeting of BTK(C481S) and Kinases with β-Lactone Electrophiles
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Christine Lee, UC Santa Cruz (Shaun McKinnie) - Engineering the Synthesis of Heterocyclic Non-Canonical Amino Acids
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Emily Fok, UC Berkeley (Richmond Sarpong) - Total Synthesis of Delavatine A and Constitutional Isomers through Divergent Late-Stage C–H Functionalization
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Giedre Sirvinskaite, UC Berkeley (Richmond Sarpong) - Total Syntheses of the 6–7–5 Hamigeran Natural Products
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Gloria Parrales, UC Berkeley (John Hartwig) - Title Pending
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Haleigh Patten-Trujillo, UC Davis (Jared Shaw) - Synthesis of Chiral Aromatic Heterocycles: Rhodium-Catalyzed Cyclization of Sulfonimidamides and Sulfondiimidamides
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Isaac Kaba, UC Berkeley (Ziyang Zhang & Robert Saxton) - Title Pending
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Isaiah Morris, Santa Clara University (Benjamin Stokes) - Quaternary Aldehyde Synthesis by the α-Arylation of Silyl Enol Ethers Using Shelf-Stable Palladium Pre-Catalysts
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Jackson Calhoun, UC Santa Cruz (Shaun McKinnie) - Biocatalytic, Protecting Group-Free Construction of Novel β-Substituted Pseudodipeptides
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Jenny Luo, UC Berkeley (John Hartwig) - Modeling Selectivity in Iridium-Catalyzed C–H Borylation Directed by Noncovalent Interactions
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John Putziger, Cornell University / Stanford University (Song Lin) - Light-Enabled Electro(photo)chemical Synthesis in Flow
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Julius Pampel, University of San Francisco (Kevan Shokat) - Mutant-Selective Covalent Targeting of Oncogenic K-Ras(Q61H)
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Justin Su, Gilead - Ir-Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylic Substitution of Hydrazine Derivatives
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Kennedy Duranczyk, Eikon - Accelerating Drug Discovery with High-Throughput Synthesis and Purification
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Madeline Fitzgerald, UC Berkeley (John Hartwig) - Intramolecular Carbene Transfer to Unactivated Bonds Catalyzed by Iridium-Containing Cytochromes
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Manasa Ramachandra, UC Santa Cruz (Shaun McKinnie) - Engineering Kainoid Synthases for the Efficient Biocatalytic Production of Non-Native Neuroactive Compounds
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Masiel Belsuzarri, UC Davis (Cody Ross Pitts) - SF5–[1.1.1]Bicyclopentane (SF5–BCP) Hybrid Bioisosteres: Synthesis and Evaluation
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Nicholas Cemalovic, Stanford University (Song Lin) - Geminal Difunctionalizations of Aliphatic Ketones and Aldehydes Enabled by Deep Electroreduction
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Shu Luo, UC San Francisco (Michelle Arkin) - Making it Stick: Using Molecular Glues to Restore the Hippo Pathway
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Wendy Lei, University of San Francisco (Herman Nikolayevskiy) - Synthesis of C3-Derivatives of Kojic Acid via Rhodium-Catalyzed Thia-Sommelet-Hauser Rearrangement
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Xijun Zhu, Stanford University (Nathanael Gray) - Activating p53Y220C with a Mutant-Specific Small Molecule
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Yecheng Wang, UC Berkeley (Ziyang Zhang) - Brønsted-Basic Small Molecules Activate GTP Hydrolysis in KRAS-Q61 Mutants
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Yongxin (Connie) Chen, UC Davis (Cody Ross Pitts) - Unexpected Diastereoselectivity and Mechanistic Studies in an Epoxide-Initiated Arene-Terminated Polyene Cyclization






