Dr. Dirk Trauner

Professor

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Biography

Dirk Trauner is a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, holding positions in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Pharmacology. He was born and raised in Linz, Austria, where he studied biology and chemistry at the University of Vienna. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the Free University, Berlin, and pursued graduate studies in chemistry under Professor Johann Mulzer. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Vienna, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Samuel J. Danishefsky at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Trauner's research includes significant contributions to Optogenetics and Photopharmacology, developing chemical tools that are particularly valuable in neuroscience and cell biology. In 2017, he returned to the United States to hold the Janice Cutler Chair in Chemistry at Penn. He has received several prestigious awards, including the 2021 ACS Cope Scholar Award and the 2016 Emil Fischer Medal. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Trauner's work aims to harness the power of chemical synthesis to create synthetic biological pathways and tackle challenging molecular targets in medicine.

Research Interests

Experience

Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor

2017-01-01 — Present

University of Pennsylvania • Philadelphia, PA

Holding dual roles in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Pharmacology.

Associate Professor of Chemistry

— Present

University of California, Berkeley •

Previously held position at UC Berkeley before joining University of Pennsylvania.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

1998-06-01 — 2000-06-01

Sloan-Kettering Institute Cancer Research • New York City, NY

Conducted research under Professor S.J. Danishefsky.

Awards

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ACS Cope Scholar Award

2021-01-01
#

Emil Fischer Medal

2016-01-01
#

Otto Bayer Award

2016-01-01

Requirements for University of Pennsylvania

Doctorate Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.6
GRE General
Verbal
Required:162
Quantitative
Required:162
Overall
Required:162
GMAT
Total Score
Required:728
Overall
Required:728
TOEFL
Total
Required:115
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree or equivalent Strong quantitative background
Application Checklist
  • Academic Transcripts
  • Letters of Recommendation (2-3)
  • Resume/CV
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Essays
Specialization Notes

Wharton Doctoral programs cover fields like Finance, Marketing, Management, and Operations, Information and Decisions.