Molecules are central to human health and disease. By uncovering how individual molecules behave in the body, and how those behaviors change with disease, Sarafan ChEM-H researchers are leading a revolution in human health research and medical care. Groundbreaking discoveries are paving the way for new tools to cure, treat, and prevent disease. With its flexible structure, access to cutting-edge technology, and visionary leadership, Sarafan ChEM-H is committed to accelerating molecular scientific discoveries with the goal of helping people live longer, healthier lives:

A drug hunter’s new tricks

Nathanael Gray explains the rules that guide drug design for diseases like cancer and the new rules that could make more treatments possible.

Researchers work toward new understanding of cancer camouflage

A group led by Lingyin Li and former CBI student Jacqueline Carozza has found a molecule that could help undermine cancer's defenses.

Gaining insight into how cells avoid assembly-line mistakes

A sophisticated structural biology technique allows researchers to investigate how molecular assembly lines maintain precision through a complex, multi-step process.

Piecing together antibodies

Christopher Barnes studies the three-dimensional shapes of antigens, biomolecules that are critical for vaccine development.

New hope from an old drug for patients with aggressive brain cancer

Paul Mischel has discovered that a common antidepressant may help patients with a deadly form of brain cancer live longer.

Into the lysosome

Monther Abu-Remaileh studies the lysosome – the “garbage disposal” of a cell – to learn how its malfunctioning may lead to neurodegenerative diseases.

What it’s like to be a chemist

Laura Dassama uses the tools of chemistry to understand biological problems related to drug resistance.

Researchers develop tool to drastically speed up the study of enzymes

Polly Fordyce and her colleagues have developed a tool that makes it possible to run thousands of tiny experiments simultaneously on a single polymer chip.

Developing a single-dose vaccine for COVID-19

Peter Kim’s lab is working on a vaccine that can be stored at room temperature, making it easier to distribute in low- and middle-income countries.

Eavesdropping on cellular conversations

Jonathan Long has developed a technique that allows researchers to pinpoint the molecules that cells secrete to communicate with one another.

Chemists craft molecular scalpels to clear unwanted proteins from cell surfaces

Steven Banik’s lab has developed a class of molecules that move disease-causing proteins to the cell’s lysosome, aka its “garbage disposal.”

Researchers develop an engineered ‘mini’ CRISPR genome editing system

Stanley Qi has engineered a tiny new CRISPR system – a genome engineering tool – that should make it easier to deliver into human cells for gene therapy.

Life is sweet

A pioneer of glycoscience, the study of the sugar molecules on and in every cell found in nature, Carolyn Bertozzi is developing new approaches to treat everything from common cancers to rare genetic syndromes.

Harnessing the microbiome to treat disease

Michael Fischbach leads the Stanford Microbiome Therapies Initiative, which focuses on analyzing microbes in the gut to test and develop new therapies for cancer and other diseases.

Secrets of how cells cram in oversized genomes revealed

Christine Jacobs-Wagner has discovered how the goopy material inside bacterial cells and interactions with other biomolecules encourage DNA segments to fold tightly.

Modifying the message

Nicole Martinez is uncovering how small changes to the chemical structure of RNA affect which genes are expressed in our cells and when.