ABOUT
Who we are
Matthew David Disney
Institute Professor & Chair
Department of Chemistry
Graduate Program Faculty Member, Kellogg School of Science and Engineering
Disney@scripps.edu; mdisney@ufl.edu
Google Scholar
Positions
- Associate Editor, Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Scientific Advisory Board, The University at Albany The RNA Institute
- Founder and Chair of Scientific Advisory Board, Expansion Therapeutics
Education
- Grade 1-8, Saint Ursula School, Baltimore, Maryland
- Grade 9-12, Calvert Hall College, Towson, Maryland
- B.S., Chemistry, The University of Maryland, College Park, 1997
- M.S., Physical Chemistry, The University of Rochester, 1999
- Ph.D., Chemistry, The University of Rochester, 2003
- Post Doctoral Fellow: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ETH Zürich – Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, 2002-2004
Awards and Honors
- Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry (with Dr. Alicia Angelbello). American Chemical Society, 2021
- Research Program Award, National Institute of Neurological Disorder & Stroke (NINDS), 2020-2028
- The Raymond & Beverly Sackler International Prize in the Physical Sciences, Chemical Biology, 2019
- BioFlorida’s Weaver H. Gaines Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2018
- The Barry Cohen Prize, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, 2018
- Scripps Florida Outstanding Mentor, 2017
- NIH Director’s Pionneer Award, 2016
- Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 2016
- Blavatnik Young Scientists Award Finalist, 2015
- David W. Robertson Award in Medicinal Chemistry. Awarded by the American Chemical Society’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry for having a primary role in the discovery of a novel therapeutic agents, targets, theoretical concepts in medicinal chemistry or drug discovery, and making a significant scientific discovery that enhances the field of medicinal chemistry. 2014
- Excellence Award in the field of Research in Science and Technology. India-US Chamber of Commerce, Inc., South Florida. 2013
- Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry. Awarded by the American Chemical Society’s Biological Chemistry Division for outstanding research in biological chemistry of unusual merit and independence of thought and originality. 2013
- The American Chemical Society Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry David Y. Gin Award. 2011
- University at Buffalo, Exceptional Scholar – Young Investigator Award. June 2011
- Camille & Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. August 2010 – July 2015
- Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Award. July 2008 – June 2011
- NYSTAR JD Watson Young Investigator Award. July 2007 – June 2009
- Camille & Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. September 2005 – August 2010
- Second Year Roche Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich). June 2005 January 2005
- Roche Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich). June 2003 – May 2004
- Arnold Weissberger Memorial Fellow; University of Rochester. 2001 – 2002
- Elon Huntington Hooker Memorial Fellow; University of Rochester. 2000 – 2001
- Sherman-Clark Memorial Fellow; University of Rochester. 1997 – 1999
- Eric A. Batista Award; University of Maryland, College Park. Award for most outstanding undergraduate research. 1997
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Research Fellow; University of Maryland, College Park. 1995 – 1997
CURRENT GROUP MEMBERS
Jessica Childs-Disney
Senior Staff Scientist
Education:
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland
Post Doctoral, Carbohydrates: August ’03 – March ’05
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Ph,D., Biophysical Chemistry: May ’03
Chemistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
M.S., Chemistry: May ’00
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
B.S., Chemistry: May ’98
Carole Platt
Laboratory Administrative Coordinator
Education:
Associate Degree in Science in Secretarial Science Jun ’96
High School, Antibes, France
French National Centre for Scientific Research: Administrative Assistant Nov ’96 – Oct ’15
Valbonne, Bordeaux and Nice, France
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATES
Sandra Kovachka
Education:
UCA University Cote d’Azur, Nice, France
Ph.D., Medicinal Chemistry: 2023
Soma Roy
Education:
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Ph.D., Organic Chemistry: 2019
Amirhossein Taghavi
Education:
Luxembourg University, Luxembourg
Ph.D., Physics and Material Science: 2018
Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
MS., Molecular Biophysics: 2005
Shahid Beheshti University , Tehran, Iran
MS., Biology: 2002
Patrick Zanon
Education:
Technical University of Munich, Germany
Dr. rer. nat., Chemoproteomics: 2021
M.Sc., Chemistry: 2017
B.Sc., Chemistry: 2014
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Cameron Dobrotka
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Master’s of Science, Microbiology
Wittenberg University – Springfield, OH
B.S., Biology: 2020
Yilin Jia
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
B.S., Pharmaceutical Sciences: 2023
Samantha (“Sam”) Meyer
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
B.S., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: 2019
Jingsong Shan
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
Duke University, Durham, U.S.
B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies: 2023
Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, China
B.S. in Molecular Bioscience: 2023
Noah Springer
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL
University of Notre Dame
B.S., Biochemistry: 2021
Xiaoxuan (“Lexie”) Su
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
Peking University, Beijing, China
M.S., Medicinal Chemistry: 2022
Peking University, Beijing, China
B.S., Pharmaceutical Sciences: 2020
Yuquan (“Hamish”) Tong
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: 2019
Xueyi (“Sherry”) Yang
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
B.S., Biochemistry: 2020
Tenghui Wang
Graduate Student
The Scripps Research Institute
Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Education:
Peking University, Beijing, China
B.S., Chemical Biology: 2020
RESEARCH TECHNICIANS
Nicolas Torrents
Research Assistant II
Education:
St. John’s University, Queens, NY
Masters., Medicinal Chemistry: 2020
Hofstra University, Long Island, NY
B.S., Biochemistry: 2015
POST BACC STUDENTS
Mason Martin
Post-Bacc Fellow
Education:
University of Central Florida
Bachelor of Science (B.S)- Biomedical Sciences
INTERNS
Elizabeth (“Liz”) Lekah
Research Intern
Department of Chemistry
Education:
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Major To-Be-Determined: 2024
COLLABORATORS
Taro Asaba
Eisai Co., Ltd.
Emarging Modality Generation
Discovery Evidence Generation Function, DHBL
Ryuichi Sekioka
Senior Researcher, Platform Sciences & Modalities
Discovery Intelligence, Applied Research & Operations
Astellas Pharma Inc.
ALUMNI
Shruti Choudhary – Postdoctoral Associate
Quentin Gibaut – Graduate Student
Yeongju Lee – Postdoctoral Associate
Ni Li – Research Assistant IV
Martina Pedrini – Visiting Scholar
Blessy Suresh – Graduate Student
Xiyuan Yao – Postdoctoral Associate
Phillip Yesley – Lab Assistant I
Zainab Al Shakarchi – Research Assistant II
Beatrice Pforr – Research Technician
Jiajun Dong
Wataru Itano
Jessica Bush
Footer