The focus of the training our laboratory provides to undergraduates is organic synthesis relevant to biochemistry. Independent study students who have worked in our lab in the past have performed syntheses of biologically active natural product analogs. This is very relevant to the drug discovery process. The most recent successful undergraduate researcher prepared an analog of the compound shown below, luciferin, which is the reactant in the production of light in fireflies.

Our laboratory is also an active practitioner of combinatorial chemistry, a powerful method for rapidly making large collections of novel compounds that can be tested for biological activity.