Alex Solivan

Happy to officially be a PhD candidate now! Thank you to everyone who has supported me this past year! @schepartzlab @AlannaSchepartz @cgem_cci @MillerGroupYale @cate_lab @UCB_Chemistry

@NaOHBartfield Wow I didn’t know we could still come up with new sentences in 2026

Its too late. I have already depicted myself as the chad quartz bunny formation and you as the soyjack pyrite cluster

Many experiments in biology happen one protein at a time, which means synthesizing DNA one gene at a time. This is fine for tens of genes. For thousands, the cost is unsustainable. Introducing uSort-M: a method to isolate and sequence-verify thousands of genes at low cost

@acsbiol Oof brutal 😭

If you ever think you're dumb, just know that disembodied Twitter account @acsbiol ran Western blots for three days in a row thinking the blue plastic sheets separating the nitrocellulose membranes was the nitrocellulose membrane. Increasing exposure didn't help much.

@kek_kelsie The front logo is so clever!

New lab shirts! #newPI

@NaOHBartfield This is peak efficiency. Magic, Cavs, and Detroit slander in one sentence. Incredible

just signed a lease in East Cambridge! Prime location to see the Celtics beat the brakes off the Magic in the Eastern Conference finals

Excited to begin my postdoctoral appointment soon in the laboratory of Prof. David Liu at the Broad Institute! This is a big pivot from natural product synthesis, but I am eager to contribute everything I can to gene editing and protein design! Thanks everyone for your support!

@ZondloLab @ChemRxiv Super cool work Neal! Did you guys notice any resin decomp issues during your cross coupling? 110C for 18h is the hottest on-resin reaction I think I’ve seen before

On @ChemRxiv, we describe the synthesis of the novel amino acid 2-mercaptophenylalanine (via a copper-mediated cross-coupling reaction with an N-terminal 2-iodo-Phe on solid phase) and its application in NCL as a phenylalanine surrogate. chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxi…

One paper accepted today and also one new manuscript appearing on @ChemRxiv makes for a good day.

Inspiring day at the @berkeleyMCB Molecular Therapeutics Division retreat at Bakar BioEnginuity Hub! Grateful to our trainees for sharing their research and to keynote Kevin Eggan (CSO at BioMarin) for insights into translating basic science into life-changing therapeutics.

First day of 50th grade! First day of my 25th year at @UDelaware!

Adding to the growing toolbox of aryl azide syntheses: From @Shangyu_Li on @ChemRxiv, Pd-catalyzed coupling of ArBr/ArOTf with NaN3. This reaction is trickier than it looks: as we show, [LPd-N3]2 dimers form with many L's & the pdt can inhibit Pd(0). doi.org/10.26434/chemr…

@NaOHBartfield I'm really enjoying their new flavor, "Oops, All Heterocycles!"

Excited to share that I successfully defended my independent research proposal today, and I am now ABD (all but dissertation)!

We detail the design & synthesis of metal-ɑ-helix frameworks. If you are just interested in learning how to make #peptides, we have provided a thorough procedure for setting up your first solid phase peptide synthesis (#SPPS)! Article free until Sept 6! tinyurl.com/v47fade9

Barry Trost's adage continues to echo "The problem with the Wittig reaction....is that it works"

I'm excited to share my lab's first preprint! It describes Affinity Map, a highly general method providing proteomic profiles of binding affinity for small molecules, peptides, and antibodies in cell lysate, organ extracts, and live cell surfaces. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

@KCGOrtiz Most “rules in chemistry” don’t really hold up or could actually end up steering you wrong so don’t get too tied up them. Recognizing patterns and learning how one experiment can teach you what to do in the next is really the secret sauce

Good morning you cool chemistry peeps in all fields at all levels! I'm giving a talk to undergrad chem research students at my alma mater next week! What advice would you give to your younger self? What do you wish you would have known post-undergrad (grad school/career)

Our approach to the total synthesis of chartelline C, out now in JACS. Photochemistry and unique topology gave way to some really interesting reactivity! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja…

@billthechemist Gotta run a Mitsunobu when you’re feeling DEAD/DIAD inside?

Going to start tweeting more. Had to run a Mitsunobu reaction yesterday just not in a good headspace about the economy and stuff.

Congrats to MCB postdocs Aurora Alvarez-Buylla (Schepartz Lab), Grace Hibshman (Nogales Lab) and Heegwang Roh (Rapé Lab) for being selected as 2025 Jane Coffin Childs Fellows! 🎉👏 @schepartzlab @NogalesLab @RapeLab @heegwangroh jccfund.org/fellows/class-…