Where Are They Now?
Alumnus Jay Chiang
Graduating Class: '00
Lab at TSRI: Professor K. Barry Sharpless's lab.
Dissertation Title: "Applications of Automation to
Reaction Optimization and Library Synthesis"
Experience at TSRI: "I was a non-traditional student
[in that I never considered an academic career]. My interests
were always in industry. I actually hadn't planned on getting
my Ph.D. until Barry Sharpless recruited me. I set up an automated
system in his lab and researched applications for automated
catalyst screening and library synthesis. Now I've graduated,
the Ph.D. is helpful and I'm glad I was exposed to the academic
side. I also learned some biology."
Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Industry Experience: Positions with start-up companies
Arqule (1994-96) and Coelacanth (2000-01).
Current Position: Associate director of automated
chemistry for Senomyx, a taste and smell company. "What I'm
doing now is an extension of what I was doing at Scripps.
We're targeting taste and smell receptors with high-throughput
screening for potentially novel taste and odorant compounds."
Reaction to Sharpless's 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry:
"I had hoped it would happen when I was there! But I did have
the chance to celebrate with him after it happened..."
Plans for the Future: Entering the field of venture
capital, in which start-up companies are evaluated for funding
and given direction on how to succeed.
Extracurriculars: Recently became "golf-crazy." Also
working on his surfing. "I've been told it's a travesty to
live in Cardiff and not surf."
In the Family: Chiang's brother (and housemate),
Kyle, is a first-year graduate student in TSRI investigator
Ben Cravatt's lab.
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