Dr. Rudi Fasan
- Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
- Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry
A gift from the Robert A. Welch Foundation in September 1998 provided funding for the chair, which is designed to encourage advancements in the field of chemistry in Texas. Fasan was appointed to the position in 2023.
“While we will continue to expand our current program, CPRIT funding will allow us to explore new research directions, including investigating the anti-cancer activity of compounds developed in our laboratory, also in collaboration with investigators at UT Southwestern Medical Center.”
Dr. Rudi Fasan’s research is aimed at the design, development and investigation of new chemical synthesis strategies for the discovery of biologically active molecules. His research group is developing chemical agents that can provide detailed information about cell biology and that can control biomolecular interactions implicated in cancer, HIV infection and other diseases.
“My research group is developing creative methods to synthesize libraries of molecules that resemble biologically active products found in nature,” Fasan said. “We screen these libraries to discover new therapeutic agents with a specific focus on compounds with anti-cancer and antiviral activity.
“Another component of our research program is to engineer enzymes to carry out chemical reactions that do not exist in nature, which we call ‘new-to-nature’ chemistry. These biocatalytic methods are useful to make pharmaceuticals, and they are relevant for green chemistry and sustainable chemical manufacturing.”
In 2023 Fasan received a $6 million Recruitment of Established Investigators award from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to join the UT Dallas Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. CPRIT recruitment grants bring senior faculty with distinguished professional careers and established cancer research programs to Texas from around the country.
Fasan was born in Italy and studied pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Padua, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1999. After serving mandatory military service, he earned his PhD in bio-organic chemistry in 2005 at the University of Zurich. After that, he joined Nobel laureate Dr. Frances H. Arnold’s research group at the California Institute of Technology as a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow.
In 2008 Fasan began his independent academic career in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Rochester. While there, he was the director of a National Institutes of Health-funded program to train graduate students in research at the interface of chemistry and biology, and he led the establishment of a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program in Chemistry Research for Medicine and Energy.