Organic Chemistry I

Ryan E. Quiñones has a background in organic chemistry. He received his B.S. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of Florida (2015) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute (2021). At Scripps Research, Ryan worked with Dale Boger on 1,2,3-triazine methodology, exploring different modes of reactivity and addressing key questions regarding stereochemistry and reaction kinetics. Ryan’s industrial career began at 1859, a startup biotech with a proprietary microfluidics screening platform using solid-phase DNA-encoded libraries (DELs), where he was responsible for method development of chemistry for the company platform, requiring expertise with solid-phase combinatorial chemistry for high-throughput experimentation.

Outside of the lab, Ryan enjoys spending time outdoors enjoying what our wonderful earth has to offer, including the beach, hiking, fishing, and gardening. Although few things can beat a home-cooked meal and video game night with his wife.  
 

Over the years, James has developed a passion for chemistry and finds joy in teaching with the goal of breaking down difficult concepts into more digestible and enjoyable content. He believes that through active learning- with a combination of instructor feedback and student engagement- students develop the skills necessary to solve complex problems in the classroom and beyond as they dive into topics related to human biology, materials science, and drug discovery, among other challenges facing the world today.

James Brewser is an experienced chemist with publications spanning synthetic organic, inorganic, bioinorganic, and medicinal chemistry. He began his chemistry career at The University of California, Irvine where he carried out undergraduate research with Professor Kelvin Gee on developing new therapeutics to address cognitive deficits associated with neurodegenerative disease. Following his undergraduate degree, James moved to The University of Texas at Austin where he completed his PhD studies on developing new ligand systems to better understand the actinide elements. James also spent time in China as an National Science Foundation EAPSI Fellow, in Italy as a UT Austin Global Research Fellow, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a G.T. Seaborg Fellow. Following his graduate work, James carried out his postdoctoral work at Harvard University where he worked on the synthesis of fully synthetic trioxacarcin antibody drug conjugates. James is currently a medicinal chemist in Pfizer's Oncology Research and Development group (Boulder) where he works on targeted chemotherapeutics.

Angela Blum, Ph.D.,  is a physical organic chemist working at the intersection of chemistry and biology. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.  As a faculty member at Hamilton College, Dr. Blum taught courses in organic chemistry and biochemistry while leading a research laboratory focused on developing material-based solutions to antibiotic resistance. After several years in academia, Dr. Blum transitioned into the biotechnology industry, beginning with a role at a startup. This experience fostered an appreciation for the dynamic and fast-paced nature of the industry. Over the years, Dr. Blum has embraced the idea that multiple aspirations can be pursued throughout a lifetime and that adapting to change is both rewarding and fulfilling.

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Ryan E. Quiñones has a background in organic chemistry. He received his B.S. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of Florida (2015) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute (2021). At Scripps Research, Ryan worked with Dale Boger on 1,2,3-triazine methodology, exploring different modes of reactivity and addressing key questions regarding stereochemistry and reaction kinetics. Ryan’s industrial career began at 1859, a startup biotech with a proprietary microfluidics screening platform using solid-phase DNA-encoded libraries (DELs), where he was responsible for method development of chemistry for the company platform, requiring expertise with solid-phase combinatorial chemistry for high-throughput experimentation.

Outside of the lab, Ryan enjoys spending time outdoors enjoying what our wonderful earth has to offer, including the beach, hiking, fishing, and gardening. Although few things can beat a home-cooked meal and video game night with his wife.  
 

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Grant Seiler, Ph.D. completed a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry at Carthage College.  Following graduation, he relocated to San Diego to pursue graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego.  He earned a Master of Science degree from the Godula Lab and a Ph.D. in Chemistry under the mentorship of Chambers Hughes.

Dr. Seiler worked at BroadPharm, a chemical supplier based in Mira Mesa, before transitioning to a medicinal chemist at 858 Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical start-up in UTC. He has extensive teaching experience, having served as a teaching assistant for many years in the UCSD Department of Chemistry.

Grant Seiler, Ph.D. completed a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry at Carthage College.  Following graduation, he relocated to San Diego to pursue graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego.  He earned a Master of Science degree from the Godula Lab and a Ph.D. in Chemistry under the mentorship of Chambers Hughes.

Dr. Seiler worked at BroadPharm, a chemical supplier based in Mira Mesa, before transitioning to a medicinal chemist at 858 Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical start-up in UTC. He has extensive teaching experience, having served as a teaching assistant for many years in the UCSD Department of Chemistry.

Over the years, James has developed a passion for chemistry and finds joy in teaching with the goal of breaking down difficult concepts into more digestible and enjoyable content. He believes that through active learning- with a combination of instructor feedback and student engagement- students develop the skills necessary to solve complex problems in the classroom and beyond as they dive into topics related to human biology, materials science, and drug discovery, among other challenges facing the world today.

James Brewser is an experienced chemist with publications spanning synthetic organic, inorganic, bioinorganic, and medicinal chemistry. He began his chemistry career at The University of California, Irvine where he carried out undergraduate research with Professor Kelvin Gee on developing new therapeutics to address cognitive deficits associated with neurodegenerative disease. Following his undergraduate degree, James moved to The University of Texas at Austin where he completed his PhD studies on developing new ligand systems to better understand the actinide elements. James also spent time in China as an National Science Foundation EAPSI Fellow, in Italy as a UT Austin Global Research Fellow, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a G.T. Seaborg Fellow. Following his graduate work, James carried out his postdoctoral work at Harvard University where he worked on the synthesis of fully synthetic trioxacarcin antibody drug conjugates. James is currently a medicinal chemist in Pfizer's Oncology Research and Development group (Boulder) where he works on targeted chemotherapeutics.

Daniel Flores has a passion for teaching organic chemistry and helping students learn how to problem solve. He believes in an engaged learning environment, encouraging students to ask questions and enabling them to think critically so they understand the material. He has previously been a TA for the general organic chemistry series at UCSD and is exciting about continuing to have the opportunity to engage with new students.

Currently, Daniel is a Sr. Scientist at Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the Process Chemistry group. This work involves improving the processes used to makes starting materials and drug substances, specifically oligonucleotides. Previously he was a member of the Chemistry team at Element Biosciences working on upstream R&D for short read DNA sequencing. This work focused on designing new probes and novel fluorescent dyes to enable high accuracy base calls.

Daniel received his B.S. from the University of Kentucky (2015). Here he got his first taste of research in the lab of Prof. Susan Odom, synthesizing small molecules as electrolyte additives for Li-ion batteries. After spending a summer at UC Santa Barbara in the Hawker group he knew he needed to move so southern California and completed his Ph.D. at UC San Diego under the guidance of Professor Valerie Schmidt (2020). His thesis focused on developing new modes of alkene activation using a copper photocatalyst.

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com