2023 Schedule

Special summer industry internship SMComm!


​Delineating the role of CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 metabolism
Cristobal Morfin
Lokey Lab
(internship at Gilead Sciences, Foster City, CA)
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Annotating NMR and MS/MS data to train a machine learning database
Riley Blue
MacMillan Lab
(internship at Genentech, South San Francisco, CA)
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST

Special Cal Poly SLO undergraduate research edition - Prof. Katherine Watts Lab!

Bond formation of amino acids to a polyketide substrate through cloning and expression
Kate Weckwerth and Reese Le
Watts Lab 
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
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Learn by cloning: Optimizing Gibson assembly expression and purification of NRPS proteins in the classroom and undergraduate research lab
Chris Cummings, Claire Meeds, Sam Catania
Watts Lab
​Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Plankton chemical ecology: ideas on including zooplankton in harmful algae monitoring
Aubrey Trapp
Kudela Lab
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Discovering the 3D-nality in natural products
Prof. Jaime Rodríguez González
PRONAMAR
Universidade da Coruña, Spain
Thursday, July 6, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST

Special undergraduate research extravaganza SMComm!

Developing workflows to effectively probe the Cheese Rind Microbiome for small molecules of interest
Celine Ertekin
Sanchez Lab
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The hunt for novel bioactive natural products in actinobacterial extracts
Manasi Natu
McKinnie Lab



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Scrutinizing Indo-Pacific sponges of Verongida order for halogenated alkaloids - the campaign to discover Type III Secretion System inhibitors
Samuel Mussetter
Crews Lab
Thursday, June 1, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Squid-Vibrio symbiosis as a model system for natural product applications
Allyson McAtamney
Sanchez Lab
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Study of the bacterial metabolome by mass spectrometry imaging
Alexandre Bastin
Université de Liège
Liège, Belgium
Thursday, May 4, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Precursor-directed investigation of non-enzymatic natural product scaffolds
Leah Bouthillette
MacMillan Lab
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California algae and their surface associated bacteria
Kara Talbott
Carlson Lab
University of the Pacific
Thursday, April 6, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Quantification of catecholamines in complex biological matrices
Hannah Lusk
Sanchez Lab
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​Mechanistic and structural insights into the PLP-dependent cyanobacterial cyclase GntC
Jennifer Cordoza
McKinnie Lab
Thursday, March 2, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
How an anticancer molecule gets made: investigation of the salinosporamide biosynthetic pathway
Katherine Bauman, PhD
Moore Lab (UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
current location:
postdoctoral researcher Fischbach Lab (Stanford University)
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Thursday, February 2, 2023
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST

2022 Schedule

Special winter celebration SMComm!

 Wines from great vintages to wildfire catastrophes: Merging natural products chemistry fundamentals with sensory evaluations to gain a 21st-century perspective
Prof. Phil Crews
Crews Lab
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Thursday, December 1, 2022
PSB 240
Doors and seminar start at
3:30 PM PST
 Screening traditional Chinese medicine botanicals for anticoagulant activity
Dylan Simpson
Holman Lab
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Investigating the substrate-dependent reactions of the dioxygenase DabC in the domoic acid biosynthetic pathway
Austin Hopiavuori
McKinnie Lab​
Thursday, November 3, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
 Warning chemicals: Communicating with chemistry
Associate Prof. Brandon Findlay
Findlay lab
​(Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada)
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Thursday, October 6, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST

Special summer industry internship SMComm!

Method development, deposition, and penetration of botanical actives for hair care
Leah Bouthillette
MacMillan Lab
(internship at Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH)
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Strain dereplication and prioritization towards diverse microbial libraries
Gordon Luu
Sanchez Lab
(internship at Hexagon Bio, Menlo Park, CA)​
Thursday, September 29, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
LaBor of love: A journey to isolating a B-containing natural product and optimizing 1H-11B HMBC
Riley Blue
MacMillan Lab
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Biomimetic total synthesis and investigation of the non-enzymatic chemistry of oxazinin A
Rahul Shingare, PhD
MacMillan Lab
Thursday, August 4, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Ub or not Ub - putting together the puzzle
of erythrazole biosynthesis
Rebecca Pelofsky
MacMillan Lab
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Assigning mechanism of action to natural products
using gene expression platforms established by
the HIFAN program
Aswad Khadilkar, PhD
MacMillan Lab
Thursday, July 21, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Predicting bioactive natural products from Colombian marine cyanobacteria
Laura Paola Rodriguez Velandia
Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia
Sanchez Lab
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Biosynthesis of guanitoxin:
an elusive and lethal organophosphate cyanotoxin
Jennifer Cordoza and Austin Hopiavuori
(tag-team toxin talk)
McKinnie Lab
Thursday, June 2, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Mass spectrometry imaging of cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate and related biosynthetic products in Vibrio cholerae​ biofilms
Catherine McCaughey, PhD
Sanchez Lab
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Investigating purpuramines as inhibitors of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa type III secretion system
Adam Lentz
Auerbuch Stone Lab
Thursday, May 5, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
 Exploring microbial communities in the Maya underworld in search for novel natural products: How it started, where it's going
Prof. Alejandra Prieto-Davo
Prieto-Davo Lab
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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Thursday, April 7, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
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 Leveraging Multidimensional Mass Spectrometry Data for Natural Product Discovery
Gordon Luu
Sanchez Lab
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Intercept and Redirect: Investigating the role of alkyl quinolone modifying vanadium-dependent haloperoxidases (VHPOs) on the microbial battlefield
Jackson Baumgartner
McKinnie Lab​
Thursday, March 3, 2022
PSB 240
Doors open at 3:30 PM PST
​Seminar starts at 4:00 PM PST
Please contact a PI from 'The Group' to speak in 2023-2024.