B.S., Seoul National University (1992) M.S., Seoul National University (1994) Ph.D., University of Arizona (2000) Postdoctoral Associate, The Scripps Research Institute (2001–04)

Bio-Organic and MedicinalChemistry

The central theme of my research is to understand the chemistry and biology of peptides and proteins and to develop new approaches for manipulating these properties with purposefully designed small organic molecules. We employ chemical synthesis and combinatorial chemistry as well as spectroscopic and biophysical methods to accomplish these aims. Projects include:

Rational design of small molecules for mimicking protein secondary structures to modulate protein-protein interactions involved in cancer Development of metabolically stable peptides as molecular imaging agents for non-invasive assessment of pancreatic beta-cells

"Efficient Solid-Phase Synthesis of FK228 Analogues as Potent Antitumoral Agents." Di Maro, S., Pong, R.-C., Hsieh, J.-T., Ahn, J.-M., J. Med. Chem. (2008) 51:6639-6641.

"Novel Amphiphilic Alpha-Helix Mimetics Based on a Bis-Benzamide Scaffold." Marimganti, S., Cheemala, M.N., Ahn, J.-M., Org. Lett. (2009) 11:4418-4421.

"Development of potent GLP-1 agonists with high enzyme stability by introducing multiple lactam bridges." Murage, E.N., Gao, G., Bisello, A., Ahn, J.-M., J. Med. Chem. (2010) 53:6412-6420.

"Solid-phase synthesis of tris-benzamides as alpha-helix mimetics." Lee, T.-K., Ahn, J.-M., ACS Comb. Sci. (2011) 13:107-111.