Dr. Paul Hergenrother

Biography

Paul Hergenrother is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 1994 and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999. Paul has held prestigious fellowships, including the American Chemical Society Graduate Student Fellowship and the Roche Award for Excellence in Organic Chemistry. He furthered his training through a post-doctoral fellowship with the American Cancer Society at Harvard University before joining the faculty at Illinois in 2001. His research involves synthetic organic chemistry, chemical biology, and biochemistry, focusing on the design and synthesis of small molecules with novel biological properties. This includes developing compounds targeting drug-resistant bacteria and cancer cells. His work on complex diversity and the synthesis of anticancer compounds has been recognized for its innovative approaches, including high-throughput screening and the Complexity-to-Diversity method, which aims to create a library of diverse natural products.

Research Interests

Experience