Alexander Deiters

Alexander Deiters is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh where he serves as founding Director of the Institute for Synthetic Biology. He joined the University of Pittsburgh in September 2013 after previously serving as a Full Professor at North Carolina State University. His research spans chemical biology, synthetic chemistry, and optochemical biology with applications to understanding and treating human diseases including cancer, neurological disorders, and viral infections.

Deiters received his education in Germany, studying Chemistry at the University of Münster from 1993-1998, where he earned both his diploma degree (1998) and doctoral degree (2000). He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin (2001) and The Scripps Research Institute (2002-2004) before beginning his independent career at NC State University in 2004.

Professor Deiters' research program focuses on developing novel chemical tools to elucidate biological processes. His multidisciplinary work combines synthetic organic chemistry, nucleic acid chemistry, biochemistry, and photochemistry to create optochemical tools that enable external control of biological processes with high spatial and temporal resolution. Key research directions include the development of light-activated proteins through synthetic biology approaches, photocaged oligonucleotide chemistry for controlling gene function, and small molecule inhibitors of the microRNA pathway for potential therapeutic applications. His lab consists of students and researchers with diverse backgrounds in multiple scientific disciplines working together to engineer DNA, RNA, and proteins with new functions.

His recent publications demonstrate a continued focus on optochemical control of biological systems, with significant contributions in genetic code expansion, light-activated therapeutic agents, and novel approaches to controlling cellular signaling pathways. The work spans multiple model systems including mammalian cell culture, zebrafish embryos, and Xenopus laevis, with applications in cancer research, virology, and immunology.

• Editorial Board of Scientific Reports, Springer Nature Group (2016-)
• Editorial Advisory Board of ChemBioChem, Wiley-VCH (2016-)
• Charles E. Kaufman Foundation New Initiative Research Grant (2014)
• American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award (2011)
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2009)
• Beckman Young Investigator Award (2007)
• March of Dimes Foundation Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award (2006)

Professor Deiters has trained over one hundred graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduates in his laboratory. His research has been supported by numerous grants from federal agencies including NIH and NSF, as well as private foundations. He serves as faculty advisor to the University of Pittsburgh's iGEM teams and has co-founded Monarch Therapeutics. Several compounds and reagents developed in his lab are commercially available, and his technologies have been licensed to biotech companies including Coeptis Therapeutics. His work has significant therapeutic potential, particularly in developing fundamentally new therapeutic agents through small molecule targeting of cellular pathways.

The Deiters Lab at the University of Pittsburgh brings together students and researchers with diverse backgrounds in synthetic organic chemistry, nucleic acid chemistry, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, chemical engineering, and functional genomics. The lab maintains active collaborations with researchers at the Hillman Cancer Center, the Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology Program, the Medical Scientist Training Program, and the Center for Systems Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the Center for Nucleic Acids Science & Technology at Carnegie Mellon University.