Marc ter Horst

Research Professor of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Marc is the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Core Laboratory Director.  Along with Staff in the NMR Core, he trains and teaches graduate students, post-docs, etc. in how to properly utilize NMR and EPR spectrometry in their research. Marc manages the core budget and instrument grant writing. He invites and encourages unique applications of NMR including heterogeneous samples, photoNMR and para-hydrogen.

Liang Yan

Research Assistant Professor

Dr. Liang Yan is the Research Assistant Professor within the You Lab.

Bob Geil

Research Assistant Professor of CHANL Core

Thin films, Biomedical Microdevices, MEMS

B.S. Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2000; PhD Chemical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2005; Postdoctoral Research Associate, Vanderbilt University 2005-2008

Josh Chen

Research Associate Professor of Xray Core

Structure determination of new crystalline solids by single crystal X-ray diffraction, Advanced crystallography experiments using synchrotron radiation, Solid-state characterization via XRD, XRR, & WAXS, Design and implementation of custom diffraction experiments, Micro Electron Diffraction, Characterization of multi-phase topotactic solid-state reactions using X-ray crystallography, Development and characterization of potentially thermo- and photoreactive co-crystal systems

Josh manages the X-ray Core laboratory, which involves providing maintenance service to the laboratory instruments, determining X-ray structures for the collaborators, teaching X-ray course and training graduate students and postdocs, and writing grants to acquire new instruments and equipment for the lab.

B.S. Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, Brandeis University

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Indiana University

Elisa Pieri

Assistant Professor

Computational/Theoretical Chemistry, Photochemistry, Protein Engineering

Our research develops and leverages the tools of computational and theoretical chemistry to advance the field of photoreaction discovery. We seek to understand and predict the events triggered by photon absorption in small molecules and proteins, and develop rational design principles to build bio-imaging and optogenetics agents. In particular, we focus on tuning the fluorescence and photochromic properties of molecules and proteins using hypothesis-free frameworks and high throughput methods, to scan tens of mutants and molecules without any a priori knowledge of their photochemistry. Members of the group will build a strong interdisciplinary STEM portfolio by living at the interface of chemistry, physics, biology and computer science.

Elisa Pieri is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. She received B.Sc. (2012) and M.Sc. (2014) degrees from the University of Siena, Italy, and her Ph.D. (2018) in Computational Chemistry from the Aix-Marseille University, France. Before joining University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in summer 2023, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in the Martinez group (2019-2023).

Huong Kratochvil

Assistant Professor

Protein biophysics, protein design, membrane proteins, biochemistry

In de novo protein design, we engineer artificial proteins from first principles to address complex mechanistic questions in biology: we can isolate key structural features from natural proteins and engineer them into de novo scaffolds to critically examine aspects of their function. The Kratochvil lab combines biophysical approaches with protein design strategies to 1) test mechanistic hypotheses of membrane protein assembly and function, and to 2) develop novel protein-protein interactions in engineering potent biologics. Through protein design, biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology, we will be able to tackle key questions in ion channel/transporter structure and function: what forces govern how membrane proteins assemble? What are the critical structural features that encode for proton-selective transport? Water-selective transport? In the same vein, we are excited to apply de novo design approaches to address central questions of protein-protein interactions in immunology, offering a new biomolecular perspective to immunology and immunological processes, and serving as a foundation for the design and development of protein-based therapeutics.

James Dodds

Research Assistant Professor

Quick solid phase extraction prior to IMS-MS analysis, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their isomeric diversity

James is a research assistant professor in the Baker Lab and is currently developing analytical methods for quick solid phase extraction prior to IMS-MS analysis. Applications of these methods are currently focused on studying perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their isomeric diversity.

James completed his B.S. in chemistry in 2013 at the University of North Georgia where he was an undergraduate researcher under the advisement of Dr. Dan Thompson focusing on developing an interface between a thermogravimetric analyzer and a single quadrupole mass spectrometer. He then went on to further study mass spectrometry with a focus on characterizing ion mobility separations under the advisement of Dr. John McLean at Vanderbilt University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry in 2018.

Erin Baker

Associate Professor

How the Environment Affects Human Health, Molecular Biomarkers, Analytical Separations, High Throughput Screening, Mass Spectrometry, Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Measuring chemical exposure is extremely challenging due to the range and number of anthropogenic molecules encountered in our daily lives as well as their complex transformations throughout the body. To broadly characterize how chemical exposures influence human health, a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, endogenous metabolomic, and xenobiotic measurements must be performed to understand the different molecular changes occurring. However, while genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses have rapidly progressed over the last two decades, neither xenobiotic nor endogenous metabolite small molecule measurements have advanced to as great of a degree, even though they are essential for the direct analysis of chemical exposure.

Therefore, the Baker Group is working to develop and optimize new analytical and computational approaches for these measurements. Specifically, they are using various combinations of separation methods including automated solid phase extractions, liquid chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry to enable the analysis of thousands of longitudinal samples over the lifetime of exposure.

These analyses allow the assessment of both xenobiotic and endogenous molecular changes to probe the perturbations occurring. Additionally, the Baker Group is creating computational software programs and approaches using R, Python, Java and machine learning for the evaluation and visualization of the molecules they have detected and samples they have analyzed. These new computational capabilities are enabling improved mining of the data and more associations to be formed in the populations studied.

Finally, the Baker Group is extremely passionate about promoting their research and STEM careers to the general public through community engagement and outreach. Thus, they present at various international and local conferences and are excited to get into K-12 schools once the pandemic has lessened.

Erin received her B.S. in chemistry and a minor in mathematics from Montana State University in Bozeman. At MSU, Erin performed undergraduate research in Eric Grimsrud’s lab using ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). She pursued IMS even further during her Ph.D. research in Michael Bowers’ Group at the University of California – Santa Barbara where she evaluated DNA duplexes and quadruplexes by coupling IMS with mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) measurements. Erin then traveled to Tricities, WA where she was a post-doctoral researcher and then a scientist in Richard Smith’s group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The Baker research group utilizes multidimensional separation techniques such as solid phase extractions, liquid chromatography, ion mobility spectrometry, and mass spectrometry to evaluate molecules present and changing in biological and environmental systems. Research projects include the development of high-throughput analyses to study numerous samples in a short time period as well as informatics studies to evaluate and connect the complex multi-omic data with available phenotypic data.

Jade Fostvedt

Teaching Assistant Professor

Chemistry Education; Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry

I am trained as a molecular inorganic chemist, specializing in the design of reactive organometallic complexes. To this end, I employed air-free synthetic techniques to isolate metal complexes and subsequently investigate their reactivity. My graduate research aimed to explore novel complexes containing early transition metal centers (namely Nb and Ta), with the goal of using these complexes to carry out difficult chemical transformations of abundant diatomic molecules, such as H₂, N₂, and CO. My research provided me with a fascinating molecular playground in which I could see the concepts I learned in the classroom come to life. In my current role as a teaching professor, I aim to help students develop their own passions through chemistry.

Chemistry has a reputation among students as being a particularly challenging subject to learn. However, a dedicated and innovative teacher has the power to change this narrative, transforming the chemistry classroom into a space for curiosity, joy, and community. My teaching philosophy is simple: everyone in the classroom, including the teacher, is a co-constructor of knowledge. My main goals for student learning are to: 1) guide students in developing a rich, connected, and relevant understanding of chemistry; and 2) move students toward higher levels of thinking, so that they may skeptically and skillfully evaluate observations, claims, and data. Furthermore, I aim to maximize retention, degree completion, and career opportunities for undergraduate chemists by using evidence-based practices to minimize disparity in equity and opportunities among diverse groups. I work toward this goal by departing from traditional lecture-based methods of teaching, validating student science identities, creating a supportive classroom community, and offering flexible opportunities for demonstrating content mastery.

B.S. Chemistry, Goldwater Scholar, University of South Dakota, 2017; Ph.D. Synthetic Chemistry, NSF Graduate Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 2022; Teaching Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2022-present.

Megan Jackson

Assistant Professor

Energy conversion, electrochemistry, inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, physical chemistry, electron transfer, catalysis

The Jackson lab aims to address global energy challenges by bringing atomistic and molecular-level design to heterogeneous electrocatalysis for energy conversion. We will use tools from physical electrochemistry, inorganic chemistry, and materials chemistry to answer the central question in electrocatalysis: when and how fast do bonds form and break at electrode surfaces? We will design and study electrochemical systems that allow us to readily extract key kinetic and thermodynamic parameters and will use the resulting knowledge to design more efficient electrocatalysts. Students in the group will become experts in electrochemistry, the synthesis and characterization of electrode materials, and chemical kinetics as they prepare to become leaders in the chemistry, materials science, and energy spaces.

California Institute of Technology, B.S. (2013), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D. (2019), Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley (2020-2022)