Ratmir Derda received a B.Sc. in Physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008, under the supervision of Laura L. Kiessling. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University from 2008 to 2011, working under George M. Whitesides and Donald E. Ingber. Currently, he is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and a Principal Investigator at the Alberta Glycomics Centre and the SENTINEL Bioactive Paper Network. His research focuses on interfaces between chemistry and biology, particularly the development of chemically-encoded libraries of small molecules for ligand discovery. His work includes developing inhibitors for therapeutically important proteins, controlling cell differentiation through spatially controlled biomolecules, and understanding the fundamental principles of molecular interactions and evolutionary selection. He has received several awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the Boulder Peptide Society in 2014 and the University of Alberta Award for Outstanding Mentorship in Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities in 2014. His research interests also involve diagnostics for point-of-care bacterial detection and drug resistance.