Zach has been on the faculty at Rice since 2006. A.B. Chemistry, Harvard University. Advisor: Greg L. Verdine Ph.D. Chemistry, Stanford University. Advisor: Barry M. Trost Postdoc, Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at UC-Berkeley. Advisor: Jean M. J. Fréchet

Our research focuses on the design of transition-metal complexes with unique structure and function, including transition-metal complexes with applications in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry. Current projects center around catalysis, de novo design of metalloenzyme-like function, and organometallic tools for chemical biology.

Pogostin, B. H.; Wu, S. X.; Swierczynski, M. J.; Pennington, C.; Li, S.-Y.; Vohidova, D.; Seeley, E. H.; Agrawal, A.; Tang, C.; Cabler, J.; Dey, A.; Veiseh, O.; Nuermberger, E. L.; Ball, Z. T.; Hartgerink, J. D.; McHugh, K. J. Enhanced dynamic covalent chemistry for the controlled release of small molecules and biologics from a nanofibrous peptide hydrogel platform. bioRxiv. 2024. DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.21.595134. Ding, Y.; Jiang, Y.; Serrat, N. L.; Zhong, K.; Lan, Y.; Ball, Z. T. Copper-mediated cross-coupling selective for pyroglutamate post-translational modifications. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c10903. Gao, Y.; Zandieh, K.; Zhao, K.; Khizanishvili, N.; Fazio, P. D.; Yu, X.; Schulte, L.; Aillaud, M.; Chung, H.-R.; Ball, Z.; Meixner, M.; Bauer, U.-M.; Bartsch, D. K.; Buchholz, M.; Lauth, M.; Nimsky, C.; Cook, L.; Bartsch, J. W. The long non-coding RNA NEAT1 contributes to aberrant STAT3 signaling in pancreatic cancer and is regulated by a metalloprotease-disintegrin ADAM8/miR-181a-5p axis. Cell Oncol. 2024 DOI: 10.1007/s13402-024-01001-0. Ding, Y.; Pedersen, S. S.; Wang, Y.; Xiao, H.; Ball, Z. T. An ex situ gaseous reagent for multicomponent amine bioconjugation. Org. Lett. 2024, 26, 6608-6613. DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c02246. Lin, A.; Ghosh, A.; Yellen, S.; Ball, Z. T.; Kürti, L. Oxidative nitrogen insertion into silyl enol ether C=C bonds. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 30, 21129-21136. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c07111. Ding, Y.; Pedersen, S. S.; Wang, H.; Xiang, B.; Wang, Y.; Yang, Z.; Gao, Y.; Morosan, E.; Jones, M. R.; Xiao, H.; Ball, Z. T. Selective Macrocyclization of Unprotected Peptides with an Ex Situ Gaseous Linchpin Reagent. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 30, e202405344. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202405344. Larkin, J. O.; Cheng, Z.; Arefeayne, Y.; Segatori, L.; Jones, M. R.; Ball, Z. T. Templated Synthesis of Copper Nanoclusters with a Hybrid Lysozyme-Polymer Material for Enhanced Fluorescence. Bioconjugate Chem. 2024, 35, 732-736. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.4c00058. Larkin, J. O.; Mozden, S. C.; Chyan, Y.; Zheng, Q.; Cherukuri, P.; Tour, J. M.; Ball, Z. T. Capacitively-Coupled Plasma from Laser-Induced Graphene Points to Ozone as the Major Mediator of Antibacterial Activity. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 2023, 15, 45601-45605. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c09216. Larkin, J. O.; Jayanthi, B.; Segatori, L.; Ball, Z. T. Boronic Acid Resin for Selective Immobilization of Canonically Encoded Proteins. Biomacromolecules 2023, 24, 2196–2202. DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.3c00096. Stevens, A. M.; Schafer, E. S.; Li, M.; Terrell, M.; Rashid, R.; Paek, H.; Bernhardt, M. B.; Weisnicht, A.; Smith, W. T.; Keogh, N. J.; Alozie, M. C.; Oviedo, H. H.; Gonzalez, A. K.; Ilangovan, T.; Mangubat-Medina, A.; Wang, H.; Jo, E.; Rabik, C. A.; Bocchini, C.; Hilsenbeck, S.; Ball, Z. T.; Cooper, T. M.; Redell, M. S. Repurposing Atovaquone as a Therapeutic against Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): Combination with Conventional Chemotherapy Is Feasible and Well Tolerated. Cancers 2023, 15, 1344. DOI: 10.3390/cancers15041344. Vargas, R. D.; Ding, Y.; Trial, H. O.; Qian, R.; Ball, Z. T. Polyol recognition in catalysis: toward selective modification of glycosylated polypeptides with boronic acid–rhodium(ii) catalysts. Chem. Commun. 2023, 59, 13030–13033. DOI: 10.1039/D3CC03371F. Swierczynski, M. J.; Ding, Y.; Ball, Z. T. Dual-Boronic Acid Reagents That Combine Dynamic and Covalent Bioconjugation. Bioconjugate Chem. 2022, 33, 2307–2313. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.2c00508. Ding, Y.; Pedersen, S. S.; Lin, A.; Qian, R.; Ball, Z. T. Direct formation and site-selective elaboration of methionine sulfoximine in polypeptides. Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 14101–14105. DOI: 10.1039/D2SC04220G. Conrad, C.; Yildiz, D.; Cleary, S. J.; Margraf, A.; Cook, L.; Schlomann, U.; Panaretou, B.; Bowser, J. L.; Karmouty-Quintana, H.; Li, J.; Berg, N. K.; Martin, S. C.; Aljohmani, A.; Moussavi-Harami, S. F.; Wang, K. M.; Tian, J. J.; Magnen, M.; Valet, C.; Qiu, L.; Singer, J. P.; Eltzschig, H. K.; Bertrams, W.; Herold, S.; Suttorp, N.; Schmeck, B.; Ball, Z. T.; Zarbock, A.; Looney, M. R.; Bartsch, J. W. ADAM8 signaling drives neutrophil migration and ARDS severity. JCI Insight 2022, 7 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.149870. Stevens, A. M.; Schafer, E.; Li, M.; Terrell, M.; Rashid, R.; Paek, H.; Weisnicht, A.; Keogh, N. J.; Alozie, M. C.; Oviedo, H. H.; Gonzalez, A. K.; Mangubat-Medina, A.; Wang, H.; Jo, E.; Rabik, C. A.; Bocchini, C.; Hilsenbeck, S.; Ball, Z. T.; Cooper, T. M.; Redell, M. Combining Atovaquone with Intensive Conventional Chemotherapy for Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Is Feasible and Well Tolerated. Blood 2021, 138, 2312. DOI: 10.1182/blood-2021-146057. Wang, H.; Ball, Z. T. A photochemical C=C cleavage process: toward access to backbone N-formyl peptides. Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2932–2938. DOI: 10.3762/bjoc.17.202. Wu, K.-L.; Yu, C.; Lee, C.; Zuo, C.; Ball, Z. T.; Xiao, H. Precision Modification of Native Antibodies. Bioconjugate Chem. 2021, 32, 1947–1959. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.1c00342. Mangubat-Medina, A. E.; Ball, Z. T. Triggering biological processes: methods and applications of photocaged peptides and proteins. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2021, 50, 10403–10421. DOI: 10.1039/D0CS01434F. Miller, M. K.; Swierczynski, M. J.; Ding, Y.; Ball, Z. T. Boronic Acid Pairs for Sequential Bioconjugation. Org. Lett. 2021, 23, 5334–5338. DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.1c01624. Miller, M. K.; Ball, Z. T. Boronic Acid Reagents for Transition-Metal-Mediated Cross-Coupling with Proteins and Peptides. Isr. J. Chem. 2021, 61, 387–393. DOI: 10.1002/ijch.202100012. Hammers, M. D.; Hodny, M. H.; Bader, T. K.; Mahmoodi, M. M.; Fang, S.; Fenton, A. D.; Nurie, K.; Trial, H. O.; Xu, F.; Healy, A. T.; Ball, Z. T.; Blank, D. A.; Distefano, M. D. Two-photon uncaging of bioactive thiols in live cells at wavelengths above 800 nm. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2021, 19, 2213–2223. DOI: 10.1039/D0OB01986K. One-Step Protein–Polymer Conjugates from Boronic-Acid-Functionalized Polymers. Swierczynski, M. J.; Ball, Z. T. Bioconjugate Chem.2020, 31, 2494–2498. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.0c00516. Copper-mediated peptide arylation selective for the N-terminus. Miller, M. K.; Wang, H.; Hanaya, K.; Zhang, O.; Berlaga, A.; Ball, Z. T. Chem. Sci.2020, 11, 10501–10505. DOI: 10.1039/D0SC02933E Red-shifted backbone N–H photocaging agents. Mangubat-Medina, A. E., Trial, H. O., Vargas, Reyner D., Setegne, M. T., Bader, T. Distefano, M. D., Ball, Z. T. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2020, 18, 5110–5114. DOI: 10.1039/D0OB00923G Targeting STAT3 anti-apoptosis pathways with organic and hybrid organic–inorganic inhibitors. Minus, M. B.; Wang, H.; Munoz, J. O.; Stevens, A. M.; Mangubat-Medina, A. E.; Krueger, M. J.; Liu, W.; Kasembeli, M. M.; Cooper, J. C.; Kolosov, M. I.; et al. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2020, 18, 3288–3296. DOI: 10.1039/C9OB02682G. Soil organic matter attenuates the efficacy of flavonoid-based plant-microbe communication. Del Valle, I.; Webster, T. M.; Cheng, H.-Y.; Thies, J. E.; Kessler, A.; Miller, M. K.; Ball, Z. T.; MacKenzie, K. R.; Masiello, C. A.; Silberg, J. J.; et al. Soil organic matter attenuates the efficacy of flavonoid-based plant-microbe communication. Sci Adv 2020, 6, eaax8254. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax8254. Aminoquinoline–Rhodium(II) Conjugates as Src-Family SH3 Ligands. Martin, S. C.; Ball, Z. T. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2019, 10, 1380–1385. DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00309 Atovaquone is active against AML by upregulating the integrated stress pathway and suppressing oxidative phosphorylation. Stevens, A. M.; Xiang, M.; Heppler, L. N.; Tošić, I.; Jiang, K.; Munoz, J. O.; Gaikwad, A. S.; Horton, T. M.; Long, X.; Narayanan, P.; et al. Blood Adv 2019, 3, 4215–4227. Nickel(II)-Promoted N-H Arylation of Pyroglutamate-Histidine with Arylboronic Acid Reagents. Hanaya, K., Miller, M. K., Ball, Z. T. Org. Lett. 2019, 21, 2445-2448. Rapid Nickel(II)-Promoted Cysteine S-Arylation with Arylboronic Acids. Hanaya, K., Ohata, J., Miller, M. K., Mangubat-Medina, A. E., Swierczynski, M. J., Yang, D., Rosenthal, R. M., Popp, B., Ball, Z. T. Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 2841-2844. Protein Substrates for Reaction Discovery: Site-Selective Modification with Boronic Acid Reagents. Ball, Z. T. Acc. Chem. Res., 2019, 52, 566–575. Metal-Mediated Functionalization of Natural Peptides and Proteins: Panning for Bioconjugation Gold. Ohata, J., Martin, S. C., Ball, Z. T. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2019, 58, 6176-6199.