Cornell Center for Antimicrobial Resistance Research & Education Spring Seminar Series 2026

Title: From Click to Clinic: Reactivity-Driven Strategies for Antibiotic Discovery and Optimization

Speaker Bio: John E. Moses is Professor of Click Chemistry at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he founded the institution’s first synthetic organic chemistry program in 2020. Trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel Laureate K. Barry Sharpless at the Scripps Research Institute, he has previously held academic appointments at University College London, the University of Nottingham, and La Trobe University (Melbourne). His research focuses on the invention of new click reactions, particularly elemental fluoride-exchange chemistries, including SuFEx, PFEx, and most recently germanium fluoride–sulfur exchange (GeFEx-S), expanding click chemistry beyond carbon-based linkages. These platforms underpin a broader program at the chemistry–biology interface, with strong interests in anticancer and antibiotic drug discovery through covalent ligands and metabolite-mimetic therapeutics. His contributions have been recognized with the 2021 Royal Society of Chemistry Organic Division Horizon Prize (Sir Robert Robinson Award) and election as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (2025).