Robert Dickson

Robert Dickson

Robert Dickson

Professor

Dr. Dickson is the Vassar Woolley Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry and has been at Georgia Tech since 1998. He was a Senior Editor of The Journal of Physical Chemistry from 2010-2021, and his research has been continuously funded (primarily from NIH) since 2000. Dr. Dickson has developed quantitative bio imaging and signal recovery/modulation schemes for improved imaging of biological processes and detection of medical pathologies. His work on fluorescent molecule development and photoswitching of green fluorescent proteins was recognized as a key paper for W.E. Moerner’s 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Recently, Dr. Dickson’s lab has developed rapid susceptibility testing of bacteria causing blood stream infections. Their rapid recovery methods, coupled with rigorous multidimensional statistics and machine learning have led to very simple, highly accurate and fast methods for determining the appropriate treatment within a few hours after positive blood cultures. These hold significant potential for drastically improving patient outcomes and reducing the proliferation of antimicrobial resistance.

robert.dickson@chemistry.gatech.edu

404-894-4007

Office Location:
MoSE G209A

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    Additional Research:
    Dr. Dickson's group is developing novel spectroscopic, statistical, and imagingtechnologies for the study of dynamics in biology and medicine.

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    Stefan France

    Stefan France

    Stefan France

    Associate Professor

    Stefan France is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Professor France earned his B.S. in Chemistry (2000) from Duke University and a M.A. (2003) and Ph.D. (2005) in Organic Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University. His research group focuses on experimental methodology development, natural product synthesis, and medicinal chemistry. Owing to Prof. France's avid interest in undergraduate research, his research group has mentored and trained more than 60 undergraduates (both Georgia Tech and non-Georgia Tech students). Professor France has been the recipient of several awards for his research, mentorship, and teaching including: the 2018 Georgia Tech-Georgia Power Professor of Excellence; the 2015 Georgia Tech Senior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award; the 2014 Georgia Tech Faculty Award for Academic Outreach; the 2014 Georgia Tech Hesberg Teaching Award; the 2013 Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award; the 2012 National Organization for the Professional Advancement for Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award; and the 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. He heads the Chemistry FAST Program, a NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site, and also serves as Chair of the NSF Chemistry REU Leadership Group.

    stefan.france@chemistry.gatech.edu

    404-385-1796

    Office Location:
    MoSE 2100K

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Cancer Biology
    • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
    Additional Research:
    Our group is interested in the design of efficient methodologies to accomplish the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds with the intent to apply the methodology toward the synthesis of complex natural and unnatural targets. Natural Product Synthesis. Approaches to natural products not only inspire the development of new synthetic strategies, but often unveil unexpected and often interesting reactivity. Targets are chosen for their interesting biological activity along with their sheer complexity. We are interested in exploring both modular and convergent approaches to complex targets that enable facile derivatization for the development of combinatorial libraries. Medicinal Chemistry. Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry lies at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy. Our group is interested in the design, synthesis and development of pharmaceutical drugs, or other chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use. We are further interested in the study of their biological properties and their quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). Given that medicinal chemistry is a highly interdisciplinary science, we aim to establish several collaborations with biologists, biochemists, and computational chemists to facilitate the design and development process. In particular, we aim to develop therapeutics toward the treatment of various forms of cancer, HIV, diabetes, and neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

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    M.G. Finn


    M.G. Finn

    Professor, James A. Carlos Family Chair for Pediatric Technology

    mgfinn@gatech.edu

    404-385-0906

    Office Location:
    MoSE 2201B

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biomaterials
    • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
    • Molecular Evolution
    Additional Research:

    We develop chemical and biological tools for research in a wide range of fields. Some of them are briefly described below; please see our group web page for more details. Chemistry, biology, immunology, and evolution with viruses. The sizes and properties of virus particles put them at the interface between the worlds of chemistry and biology. We use techniques from both fields to tailor these particles for applications to cell targeting, diagnostics, vaccine development, catalysis, and materials self-assembly. This work involves combinations of small-molecule and polymer synthesis, bioconjugation, molecular biology, protein design, protein evolution, bioanalytical chemistry, enzymology, physiology, and immunology. It is an exciting training ground for modern molecular scientists and engineers. Development of reactions for organic synthesis, chemical biology, and materials science. Molecular function is what matters most to our scientific lives, and good chemical reactions provide the means to achieve such function. We continue our efforts to develop and optimize reactions that meet the click chemistry standard for power and generality. Our current focus is on highly reliable reversible reactions, which open up new possibilities for polymer synthesis and modification, as well as for the controlled delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents to biological targets. Traditional and combinatorial synthesis of biologically active compounds.We have a longstanding interest in the development of biologically active small molecules. We work closely with industrial and academic collaborators on such targets as antiviral agents, compounds to combat tobacco addiction, and treatments for inflammatory disease.


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    Eric Shen

    Eric Shen headshot

    Eric Shen

    Research Engineer

    Eric received his B.A. in English from Rice and then went on to pursue a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry at the University of Florida, graduating in 2011. After 1.5 years at Georgia Tech as a research engineer, he joined BASF in Germany as a postdoctoral researcher in organic electronics. Eric then returned to Georgia Tech and the Reynolds group where he is currently working as a research scientist focusing on electrochromic materials and devices.

    eric.shen@gatech.edu

    404-385-4391

    Office Location:
    MoSE 2172

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    Justin Kim

    Justin Kim

    Justin Kim

    Associate Professor

    Justin Kim is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He received his A.B. in Chemistry and Physics and an A.M. in Chemistry from Harvard College in 2003 then received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013. After a postdoctoral fellowship as a Miller Institute Fellow at UC Berkeley and at Stanford University, he joined the faculty of the Department of Cancer Biology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School in 2016 as an Assistant Professor. He later joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2024. He is the recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2018), Thieme Chemistry Journal Award (2021), and the NSF CAREER Award (2023). Professor Kim’s research program is defined by the development of biologically relevant reactions for use in chemistry, biology, and materials science. His primary research interests are in expanding the functional repertoire of bioorthogonal chemistry, specifically exploring new bond-forming and breaking methods that enable platforms for discovering and targeting small molecule-protein and protein-protein interactions as well as for creating functionally dynamic biomaterials.


     

    jkim4172@gatech.edu

    404-894-9950

    Office Location:
    MoSE 2144

    https://sites.gatech.edu/kimlab/


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    Anna Österholm

    Anna Österholm

    Anna Österholm

    Principal Research Scientist

    Anna Österholm is a Principal Research Scientist who has been at Georgia Tech since 2012. She earned her Ph.D. in analytical electrochemistry from Åbo Akademi University in Finland and has been active in the area of electroactive polymers for two decades. Her main research interest include probing structure-property relationships of conjugated organic molecules and polymers, organic electronics, electrochromism, solution processing of polymers, and conjugated polymer electrochemistry. Österholm has contributed to over 50 research articles, authored two book chapters on electrochromism, and holds co-inventorship on six patents in the area of electrochromic polymers and small molecules.

    anna.osterholm@chemistry.gatech.edu

    404.395.7079

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    Jason Azoulay

    Jason Azoulay

    Jason Azoulay

    Associate Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
    Vasser-Woolley GRA Distinguished Investigator in Sensors and Instrumentation

    Jason Azoulay is an organic, organometallic and polymer chemist and internationally recognized leader in developing emerging semiconductor materials and devices. He has made significant contributions to the fields of polymer chemistry and materials science,bridging fundamental chemistry with real-world applications. His work focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of advanced functional materials across numerous technology platforms, with an emphasis on organic semiconductors and conjugated polymers.

    Azoulay co-directs the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, and his lab adds great strength to Georgia Tech’s leadership in soft-matter and hybrid optoelectronics. His work also complements numerous efforts at Georgia Tech that develop and apply advanced functional materials. 

     


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    Angus Wilkinson

    Angus Wilkinson

    Angus Wilkinson

    Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Materials Science and Engineering
    Associate Chair for Operations and Undergraduate Programs

    Angus Wilkinson is a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and holds a joint appointment with the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Wilkinson obtained his bachelors degree in chemistry from Oxford University in 1988. He was a graduate student with A. K. Cheetham in the Department of Chemical Crystallography /Inorganic Chemistry at Oxford from 1988 until December 1991. His graduate work focused on the application of synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction to problems in solid-state chemistry. 

    For the last two years of his graduate studies he held a senior Scholarship from Christ Church, Oxford. From October 1991 until June 1993, Wilkinson was a Junior Research Fellow with Christ Church, Oxford. However, most of this period was spent on leave at the Materials Research Laboratory, University of California Santa Barbara. His work in Santa Barbara focused on the processing and structure of oxide ferroelectric materials. In October 1993 he joined the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He received tenure in 1999 and was promoted to full professor in 2004. He is currently Associate Chair for operations in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. 

    His work at Georgia Tech has been wide ranging. Current projects include the synthesis and characterization of negative thermal expansion ceramics, in-situ studies of cement hydration under oil well conditions (high pressure and temperature) using x-ray and ultrasonic techniques, and the development of reversible carbon dioxide adsorbents. Previous work at Georgia Tech has included an exploration of chiral templates for the synthesis of chiral microporous materials, the low temperature synthesis of ferroelectrics, an exploration of low oxidation state gallium and indium oxide chemistry with a view to finding new ferroelectric and nonlinear optical materials, the development of resonant x-ray scattering methods for use on thermoelectric energy conversion materials, and an examination of cement durability under sulfate attack conditions using high energy x-ray scattering combined with microtomography.

    angus.wilkinson@chemistry.gatech.edu

    404.894.4036

    Office Location:
    MoSE 1100J

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Materials and Nanotechnology
    Additional Research:

    Thermoelectric Materials; Metal-Organic Frameworks; Modeling


    Z. John Zhang

    Z. John Zhang

    Z. John Zhang

    Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

    The research interests of Zhang and his group focus on understanding the fundamental relationships between the chemical composition/crystal structure and the properties of novel materials. A multidisciplinary approach including inorganic/physical chemistry and solid-state physics is employed to pursue the synthesis and physical property studies of nanostructured materials. The applications of these materials in advanced technologies and in biomedical science are also actively explored.

    john.zhang@chemistry.gatech.edu

    404.894.6368

    Office Location:
    MoSE 1100N

    Chem & BioChem Profile Page

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Materials and Nanotechnology
    Additional Research:

    Advanced CharacterizationMetal Oxide NanoparticlesNanostructured Materials


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    Amanda Stockton

    Amanda Stockton

    Amanda Stockton

    Associate Professor

    Education
    B.S., Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004; B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004; M.A., Chemistry, Brown University, 2006; Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, 2010

    Research
    Dr. Stockton joined the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in January 2015. Her research plans include (1) instrument development for in situ organic analysis in the search for extraterrestrial life, (2) microfluidic approaches to experimentally evaluating hypotheses on the origin of biomolecules and the emergence of life, and (3) terrestrial applications of these technologies for environmental analysis and point-of-care diagnostics.

    astockto@gatech.edu

    (404) 894-4090

    Office Location:
    MoSE 1100K

    https://sites.gatech.edu/stocktonlab/

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