Dr. Noah Burns

Biography

Noah Burns is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. His research explores the boundaries of modern organic synthesis to rapidly create species with the highest molecular complexity. The Burns Lab is particularly inspired by natural products and their importance as synthetic targets, helping to identify significant unanswered scientific questions. Born in Oakland, California, Noah grew up in south central Maine and studied chemistry at Columbia University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 2004 under the mentorship of Professor James Leighton. He completed his doctoral work at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, in 2009, focusing on the synthesis of the haouamine marine alkaloid. Following this, he developed catalytic enantioselective methods as an NIH postdoctoral fellow in Professor Eric Jacobsen's lab at Harvard University. Since joining the Stanford Chemistry Department in 2012, he has been recognized as a Terman Fellow and has made significant contributions to the field, particularly in the selective halogenation of organic molecules. His work is instrumental in evaluating the therapeutic potential of chiral organohalogens, as well as in constructing unusual lipids with interesting physical properties.

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