Derek Tan

Derek Tan, PhD is a Professor and Chair of the Chemical Biology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) within Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). He holds Tri-Institutional appointments at The Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medical College. His academic journey includes a BS from Stanford University (1995) and a PhD from Harvard University (2000), followed by postdoctoral training at SKI under Samuel Danishefsky.

His research focuses on developing small-molecule probes for challenging biological targets using two approaches: diversity-oriented synthesis of natural product-like libraries and rational drug design targeting adenylation enzymes. Key therapeutic areas include cancer and infectious diseases, with notable work on salicyl-AMS (a novel antibiotic) and engineered CAR T-cells producing therapeutic compounds in situ.

Dr. Tan has received prestigious awards including the Boyer Young Investigator Award and Dean’s Teaching Award. He leads a lab with 10+ members, supervises graduate and postdoctoral researchers, and collaborates across disciplines to advance drug discovery. His work integrates synthetic chemistry, systems biology, and clinical translation, with over 60 peer-reviewed publications and multiple patent applications.

Lab activities include developing protein-based probes for ubiquitination pathways and creating libraries of medium-ring macrocycles. Ongoing projects explore inhibitors of bacterial virulence factors and immunotherapeutic strategies leveraging small-molecule production by engineered immune cells.