Chaput Lab

Pop the champagne! 🍾 Our very own Victoria successfully defended her thesis on the evolution and structural elucidation of TNA polymerases this week! Congrats, Dr. Maola-Gross—we couldn’t be prouder!! 🎉

The @ChaputLab holds great opportunities for undergraduates at UCI to pursue research in structural biology. Check out this article highlighting one of our star students, Gracie Ko! pharmsci.uci.edu/2026/02/17/und…

Our matching XNA scientists were spotted presenting their research today during the PharmSci PhD prospective student week! ☀️

Newly published in NAR: the @ChaputLab has demonstrated TNA’s utility in gene silencing by enhancing the cellular activity and stability of RNA-targeting DNAzymes. A big step forward towards the future of oligonucleotide therapeutics! ✨🔬 academic.oup.com/nar/article/54…

How does evolution reshape enzyme activity? In a recent Nature Communications paper, members of the @ChaputLab are helping answer this question through new insight on the forces responsible for shaping enzyme function. Check it out! nature.com/articles/s4146…

Our incredible Erica Lee was named one of UCI’s annual Pharmaron Fellows! Congrats to Erica on her hard work and success throughout graduate school!

Major kudos to members of the @ChaputLab for their recent publication in Nature Chemical Biology, pushing the boundaries of enzyme evolution with a robust and highly processive RNA polymerase! Looking forward to more exciting campaigns in 2026 🎊🧬

Inspired by nature, chemists have spent the last 50 years systematically designing and synthesizing a vast array of sugar modified nucleic acids, so-called xenonucleic acids (XNAs). Check out this NAR review on the XNA alphabet! academic.oup.com/nar/article/53…

Big congratulations to Clark, who recently defended his Masters thesis, titled: “Development of Improved Scalable Synthesis of Nucleoside Triphosphates.” Well done, Clark! 🎓⭐️

Congrats to our PhD student @MaolaVictoria, recipient of UCI pharmaceutical science’s Henry Wood Elliot Award! 👏

Big congrats to Dr. John Chaput, ranked #24 in the world in Synthetic Biology by @ScholarGPS! This Top Scholar honor puts him in the top 0.5% of researchers worldwide based on impact, citations & productivity. @ChaputLab

John Chaput and Mano Manoharan at the Nucleic Acid Therapies meeting, hosted at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory! @CSHL

Congrats to our very own Dr. Esau Medina on a successful PhD defense! 🎓🧬

Our PhD students showcased their groundbreaking research at our PhD Campus Visit Poster Session! 📊✨ Prospective students had the opportunity to connect with current PhD candidates and faculty members, gaining insights into our PhD in Pharmacological Sciences program at UCI.

Congrats to Esau Medina for his work on measuring XNA polymerase fidelity in hydrogels -- just accepted into NAR! Starting 2025 off strong!

Jan 2025: The lab officially welcomes our newest graduate student, Alex Horton! ⭐️🧬

Congrats to our recent graduate, Dr. Daniel Schuder, for his article acceptance into ACS Syn Bio (2024)! Check it out here! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac… Using a REVEALR-Based Diagnostic Panel for Rapid Detection of Acute Respiratory Infections

Some highlights from 2024 (Part 1) - Dr. Daniel Schuder successfully defended his thesis - Students Erica Lee, Mohammad Hajjar, and Victoria Maola successfully advanced to candidacy - Undergrads Gracie and Claudia joined the lab

“This achievement represents a major milestone in the evolution of synthetic biology and opens up exciting possibilities for new therapeutic applications by significantly narrowing the performance gap between natural and artificial enzyme systems”🦾 news.uci.edu/2024/10/08/uc-…