Meet the members of our lab
The members of our lab come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, sexual orientations, genders, cultures, religious backgrounds, socioeconomic backgrounds, and others. We work hard to create an environment where members of our lab feel included and valued. If you have questions about what it is like to work in our lab, please contact us.
Lab Members and Alumni
Prof. Terry Moore
Dr. Moore’s collaborative research program focuses on making and studying new drug-like molecules that target an important, yet understudied, group of drug targets: transcription factors. Controlling and modulating gene expression with small molecules and peptides has the potential to pave the way for new therapeutics to treat important biomedical problems, like chronic wound healing and many types of cancer. As a result of this work, he was named the 2017 UIC Rising Star Researcher of the Year in the Basic Life Sciences. This success as an independent investigator is consonant with his training with two of the world’s most well-respected academic medicinal chemists: John Katzenellenbogen and Dennis Liotta. As a Ph.D. student with John Katzenellenbogen at UIUC, Dr. Moore gained experience with high-throughput screens and developing structure-activity relationships arising from small molecules identified from those screens. As a postdoctoral fellow with Dennis Liotta at Emory University, he developed an expertise in small molecule hit-to-lead optimization, with a particular emphasis on simultaneously enhancing potency, physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties of preclinical agents. Since arriving at UIC, he has established a productive research team to study several transcription factors, including estrogen receptor and NRF2.
Dr. Shaimaa Aboukhatwa
Dr. Dongxu Zuo
Dongxu is a postdoctoral researcher in the Moore lab. She received her BSc in Applied Chemistry from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University in 2017. Following her undergraduate studies, she pursued her PhD at Seoul National University under the supervision of Dr. Jeewoo Lee from 2017 to 2024. Her PhD research focused on synthesizing small molecular inhibitors for the NLRP3 inflammasome. Additionally, she worked on developing small molecular agonists and antagonists for TRPV1. She joined the Moore Lab in 2024 and is currently working on the ER/SRC inhibitor project.
Tyler Kalanquin
Tyler is a graduate student in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a concentration in Chemistry in Drug Discovery. He received his B.S. in Biomolecular Science from the University of Michigan in 2019. His research focuses on developing new anti-influenza therapeutics by mediating viral entry.
Mario Alvarez
Mario is a graduate student in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a concentration in Chemistry in Drug Discovery. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2021. His research focuses on developing new antivirals against Nipah and Ebola.
Trevor Dean
Trevor is a Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate student in the Chemistry and Drug Discovery concentration. He completed his H.BSc in biochemistry at McGill University in 2019. He later completed his MSc at the University of Toronto in 2022 where he used molecular and structural biology techniques to study viral proteins. In the Moore lab, Trevor contributes to the Apidaecin project.
Juliet Jelú
Erika Li
Erika Li is an undergraduate student majoring in chemistry at UIC.
Lab Alumni
Dr. A’Lester Allen, IRACDA and Burroughs-Wellcome CASI Fellow (2022-2026; currently Burroughs-Wellcome CASI Fellow at Boston University; LinkedIn)
Dr. Saad Alqarni, graduate research assistant (2020-2022; currently assistant professor at University of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia; LinkedIn)
Kirthi Bellamkonda, undergraduate research assistant (2014-2015; currently MD student at Yale University; formerly MSc student at Oxford University, UK; LinkedIn)
Karolina Blaszcuk, undergraduate lab assistant (2013-2014; currently Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at ŌURA; LinkedIn)
Kenneth Booker, undergraduate research assistant (2017-2019; currently owner of Booker Brothers Mobile Auto Repair; LinkedIn)
Alexandra Castroverde, Summer Undergraduate Research fellow (2020; currently graduate research assistant at the University of Chicago; LinkedIn)
Dr. Changfeng Cheng, graduate research assistant (2018-2023; currently Scientist III at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals; LinkedIn)
Dr. Ewelina Choma, Riback Fellow (2016; currently Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center; LinkedIn)
Dr. Brian David, graduate research assistant (2015-2020; currently Senior Scientist I at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals; LinkedIn)
Rohit De, ResearcHStart fellow (2016-2017; currently National Merit Scholar and undergraduate student at University of Texas at Dallas)
Dr. Destiny Durante, graduate research assistant and Access to Excellence Fellow (2021-2025; currently Specialty Raw Materials Sales Representative at McKinely Resources, Inc.; LinkedIn)
Dr. Lara Fakhouri, visiting assistant professor and sabbatical fellow (2019; currently assistant professor at Jordan University of Science and Technology; LinkedIn)
Jasmine Harris, ResearcHStart fellow (2017)
Dr. Atul Jain, postdoc (2013-2016; currently Director at Novo Nordisk; LinkedIn)
Dr. Tatum Johnson, graduate research assistant and Bridge to the Doctorate Fellow (2021-2026; LinkedIn)
Ipsita Krishnamurthy, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (2019; currently graduate student at Stanford University; LinkedIn)
Dr. Phillip Lazzara, postdoc (2017-2020; currently Sr. Scientist II at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals; LinkedIn)
Victor Lewandowski, undergraduate research assistant (2019-2020; currently medical student at Medical College of Wisconsin; LinkedIn)
Amy Lian; undergraduate research assistant (2019-2020)
Dr. Bingqing Liu; postdoc (2024-2025; currently Research Scientist at BISCO; LinkedIn)
Dr. Sebastián Márquez; postdoc (2023-2025; currently Sr. Scientist at Abbvie; LinkedIn)
Tahnee Muller, undergraduate research assistant (2016)
Patrick Nwanah, undergraduate research assistant (2016)
Jennifer Obike, MARC/USTAR fellow (2021; currently graduate student at Vanderbilt University; LinkedIn)
Ishmael Ochir, undergraduate research assistant (2015)
Dr. Benjamin Richardson, graduate research assistant (2014-2018; currently medical writer at ApotheCom; LinkedIn)
Adrian Ruiz, undergraduate research assistant (2023-2024)
Zohra Sattar, ASPET Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (2017; LinkedIn)
Andriana Scencirro, undergraduate lab assistant (2013; currently OB/GYN physician Tanner Health; LinkedIn)
Darshil Shah, research assistant (2013)
Dr. Zamia Siddiqui, graduate research assistant in joint PharmD/MS program (2015-2023; LinkedIn)
Dr. Kornelia Skowron, graduate research assistant and ACS MEDI predoctoral fellow (2018-2022; currently Scientist at Grove Biopharma, Inc.; LinkedIn)
Dr. John Sloan, graduate research assistant (2022-2026; currently Technical Sales Representative at Nanalysis; LinkedIn)
Dr. Thomas Speltz, graduate research assistant (2014-2018; currently Program Director at Evozyyne, LLC; LinkedIn)
Dr. Murugesh Venkatesh, postdoc (2022-2024; currently postdoc at Baylor College of Medicine; LinkedIn)
Dr. José Villegas, Bridge to Faculty Scholar (2020-2022; currently Assistant Professor at University of Illinois Chicago; LinkedIn)