Jefferson Chan

Jefferson Chan is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. His research bridges chemistry, biology, and medicine, focusing on molecular imaging and organic synthesis to develop tools for disease diagnosis and understanding. He holds a BSc from the University of British Columbia (2006) and a PhD from Simon Fraser University (2011), followed by postdoctoral training at UC Berkeley.

His research interests include photoacoustic imaging for cancer diagnosis, developing small-molecule inhibitors for tuberculosis, and probing neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s. Notable projects include bioorthogonal chemical probes for cancer early detection, copper-based sensors for liver aging, and nitric oxide-responsive agents for precision therapy.

His work has been recognized with prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER Award (2018), Helen Corley Petit Scholar (2021), and multiple teaching excellence recognitions. His lab also collaborates on drug delivery platforms and infectious disease treatments, with recent publications in JACS Au, Chemical Science, and Nature Communications.

Key scientific contributions include activity-based probes for tumor microenvironment analysis, logic-gated drug delivery systems, and biomimetic approaches to enhance imaging agent efficacy. He mentors students in synthetic chemistry, imaging technology, and disease mechanism studies, with grants supporting his interdisciplinary projects.