Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Empowering Tomorrow’s Chemist

Workshop_in_brief

Download PDF

Request an exam or desk copy

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Chemical Sciences Roundtable convened a workshop on how best to automate the laboratory and train the next generation of chemists, chemical engineers, materials and formulation scientists, and others. This workshop explored the benefits of laboratory automation and opportunities to make this space more accessible for resource-limited institutions and identified ways to prepare the science, technology, engineering, and medicine workforce. Panel sessions gathered together researchers from industry, academia, and government to focus on the various aspects of automation in the chemical sciences, including the challenges and benefits of automation in industry, automation training and development of curricula in academia, and the future of automation in the industrial laboratories and universities. This publication highlights the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

Publication information

10 pages · 8.5 x 11 ·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-29499-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/26497

Suggested citation

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Empowering Tomorrow's Chemist: Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Import this citation to:

Martin Burke

Martin Burke is the May and Ving Lee Professor of Chemical Innovation at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Burke research group is pioneering the development of "molecular prosthetics"—small molecules that mimic the functions of deficient proteins that underlie a wide range of human diseases. The group has also created an automatable lego-like platform for synthesis that is broadly enabling and expanding access to the molecule-making process. The Burke group has harnessed this platform to advance molecular prosthetics for treating cystic fibrosis into clinical trials and to enable preclinical testing of molecular prosthetics for anemia and a new class of nontoxic fungicidal agents. Dr. Burke also recently helped launch the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and is serving as the inaugural associate dean of research. Dr. Burke has received the American Chemical Society Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry and is a founder of four biotechnology companies. He received his PhD from Harvard University and an MD from Harvard Medical School.

Timothy Jamison

Timothy Jamison is Robert R. Taylor Professor of Chemistry and associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and leads his own research group. His research program focuses on the development of new methods of organic synthesis and their implementation in the total synthesis of natural products. He currently serves as the associate editor of Chemical Reviews. Dr. Jamison received the Council of Chemical Research Collaboration Award in 2014 and was awarded the MIT School of Science's Teaching Prize for Undergraduate Education in 2013. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and received the society's Merck Award. Dr. Jamison received his PhD from Harvard University. He received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland and later was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory at Harvard University.

Shane W. Krska

Shane W. Krska is senior principal scientist in the High-Throughput Experimentation and Lead Discovery Capabilities Division of Merck Research Laboratories, a division he helped found in 2002. His research interests center around applications of transition metal catalysis to pharmaceutical synthesis and the use of high-throughput experimentation to accelerate reaction development. He has authored or co-authored 30 scientific publications and six patents and was named an American Chemical Society Young Industrial Investigator in 2008. He received his PhD in inorganic chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his research focused on the synthesis of main group organometallic polymers and dendrimers. He conducted postdoctoral research at University of California, Berkeley on the synthesis and reactivity of early transition metal imido complexes.

Anne M. LaPointe

Anne M. LaPointe is the director of the Catalyst Discovery and Development Laboratory in the
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and has been a researcher at Cornell University since
2010. Prior to Cornell, she was a senior staff scientist at Symyx Technologies. While at Symyx, Dr.
LaPointe developed methods for high-throughput catalyst screening and discovered several new
families of olefin polymerization catalysts, some of which are used commercially. Dr. LaPointe's research
interests include inorganic and organometallic chemistry, homogeneous
and heterogeneous catalysis, polymer chemistry, sustainable chemistry, and high-throughput
experimentation. She is an inventor on more than 40 U.S. and international patents. Dr. LaPointe
received her PhD in inorganic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Robert E. Maleczka, Jr.

Robert E. Maleczka, Jr. is a professor of chemistry at Michigan State University (MSU). His research group is focused on the invention of “green” reactions for organic synthesis and the total synthesis of natural products. Dr. Maleczka has received numerous awards, including the Merck Technology Collaboration Award, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, the Astellas USA Foundation Faculty Award, the Novartis Lecturer title at Yale University, and Mentor of the Year award from the MSU Chapter of the National Society for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. He has also been named as an American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow. In 2006, Dr. Maleczka became a co-founder of BoroPharm, Inc. a Michigan-based company dedicated to the preparation and commercialization of novel building blocks for pharmaceutical syntheses. Among his service and outreach roles, he has served as a Diversity Scholar in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning, as an invited participant ACS/EPA Green Chemistry Market Roundtable and White House Forum, as a member and Chair of the ACS Award for Affordable Green Chemistry Selection Committee, and as an elected member of the Executive Committee of the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry. He earned his PhD from The Ohio State University.

Arsalan Mirjafari

Arsalan Mirjafari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Florida Gulf Coast University, a Primary Undergraduate Institution. His research focuses on development of organic materials, which aims to address key societal challenges such as resources, energy and medicine. Particularly, over the past eight years, his UG research group works on rational design, synthesis, and applications of functional ionic liquids as a versatile class of organic materials, with a wide array of applications, i.e., electrolytes for energy storage devices, gene delivery, biomolecules preservation, bio-inspired materials, liquid crystals, catalysis, and carbon dioxide capture. Dr. Mirjafari received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Isfahan, in Iran in 2009 and did his postdoctoral training with Prof. James Davis at University of South Alabama from 2010 to 2012.

Nicola Pohl

Nicola Pohl is professor of chemistry and the Joan and Marvin Carmack Chair in Bioorganic Chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington. She was a professor of chemistry and of chemical and biological engineering and held the Wilkinson Professor of Interdisciplinary Engineering at Iowa State University before moving to Indiana University. The Pohl research group works to find new ways to make and analyze sugars to dissect their important roles in plant, animal, and human biology and to design therapeutics. One major long-term goal of the group is to develop rational designs of therapeutic interventions, such as vaccines and glycoproteins, on the basis of a deeper knowledge of the role of carbohydrates. Her research group created the first automated solution-phase method for readily synthesizing oligosaccharides and is now working to expand the scope of those methods to tackle the equal challenge of providing building blocks to feed their automated oligosaccharide synthesis machines. Dr. Pohl received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University.

Workshop

Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Empowering Tomorrow’s Chemist—A Workshop

November 16 - 17, 2021

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

Materials

About

Automated laboratories can streamline synthetic approaches and molecular discovery at unprecedented levels. As technology improves, one must consider how best to automate the laboratory and train the next-generation chemists, chemical engineers, materials and formulation scientists, and others. This two-day, virtual workshop, hosted by the Chemical Sciences Roundtable, will explore the benefits of laboratory automation and opportunities to make this space more accessible for resource-limited institutions and identify ways to prepare the workforce. Speakers from academia, industry, and government will review current programs and technologies, and pinpoint necessary tools and funding sources needed.

Contact

Jessica Wolfman

JWolfman@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Log In

Sign in to access your saved publications, downloads, and email preferences.

Former MyNAP users: You'll need to reset your password on your first login to MyAcademies. Click "Forgot password" below to receive a reset link via email. Having trouble? Visit our FAQ page to contact support.

Members of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, or National Academy of Medicine should log in through their respective Academy portals.

Email (required)
Password (required)

Don't have an account?

Register

Email (required)
New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters
I accept the terms of use
terms of use

Thank You

Thank you for creating a MyAcademies account!

Enjoy free access to thousands of National Academies' publications, a 10% discount off every purchase, and build your personal library.

Forgot Password

Enter the email address for your MyAcademies (formerly MyNAP) account to receive password reset instructions.

Reset Requested

We sent password reset instructions to your email . Follow the link in that email to create a new password. Didn't receive it? Check your spam folder or contact us for assistance.

Reset Password

New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters

Reset Password

Your password has been reset.

Log In

Verify email

Verify Your Email Address

We sent a verification link to your email. Please check your inbox (and spam folder) and follow the link to verify your email address. If you did not receive the email, you can request a new verification link below

Subscribe

First Name
Last Name
Email (required)
I agree to receive emails from the National Academies (required)

We respect your privacy and will never share your information.

Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Empowering Tomorrow’s Chemist—A Workshop

Featured publication

Description

Contributors

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Parent projects

Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Science and Engineering Education and Workforce Program Area

Aeronautics, Space, and Astronomy Program Area

Center for Advancing Science and Technology (CAST)

Physical Sciences, Systems, and Infrastructure Program Area

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Improving Command Climate, Unit Cohesion, and Warfighter Readiness

Publication information

Suggested citation

Materials

About

Contact

Jessica Wolfman

Disclaimer

My Academies

Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Empowering Tomorrow’s Chemist—A Workshop

Dropdown items

Featured publication

Empowering Tomorrow's Chemist: Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Description

Contributors

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Parent projects

Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Science and Engineering Education and Workforce Program Area

Aeronautics, Space, and Astronomy Program Area

Center for Advancing Science and Technology (CAST)

Physical Sciences, Systems, and Infrastructure Program Area

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Improving Command Climate, Unit Cohesion, and Warfighter Readiness