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UF Health University of Florida
The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute
for Biomedical Innovation & Technology
Departments & Centers Overview

Chemistry

The Chemistry Department at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute brings gifted thinkers together to advance science and solve urgent biomedical problems.

Genomic sequencing
Faculty at UF|Scripps work across disciplines to take discoveries in basic science toward the clinic.
Chemistry bench detail 1
Chemists separate substances at the lab bench.
Samples from the natural products collection at UF|Scripps.
Natural products collections
The natural products collection at Scripps Research contains hundreds of thousands of organisms available for study.
Scripps Institute
Hard at work in the lab of Chemistry Department Chair Matthew Disney, Ph.D.

We work broadly at the forefront of chemical biology, with experts in the areas of synthesis, enzyme catalysis, RNA chemical biology, natural product biosynthesis, redox biochemistry, transcription factor biology, photochemistry and DNA-encoded chemistries. We collaborate daily with structural, micro- and cellular biologists to improve the human condition. We seek original thinkers who would push the boundaries of human knowledge at the interface of chemistry and biology.

The department focuses on several research areas, including:

  • Searching for new therapies for diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders, HIV-AIDS and other viral diseases, and tuberculosis and other bacterial infections
  • Developing new technologies for RNA evolution, DNA sequencing, nanomedicine and stem cell research
  • Creating state-of-the-art tools to design, synthesize and evaluate new functional molecules for specific applications
  • Synthesizing natural products and their designed analogs, as well as natural product discovery and biosynthesis

Graduate students at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology earn their Ph.D. from the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, while having access to outstanding clinical, research and academic expertise at the University of Florida. Learn more about our graduate program.