School of Medicine
Showing 1-10 of 27 Results
-
Matthew Kanan
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
Bio Associate Professor of Chemistry Matthew Kanan develops new catalysts and chemical reactions for applications in renewable energy conversion and CO2 utilization. His group at Stanford University has recently developed a novel method to create plastic from carbon dioxide and inedible plant material rather than petroleum products, and pioneered the study of “defect-rich” heterogeneous electro-catalysts for converting carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to liquid fuel.
Matthew Kanan completed undergraduate study in chemistry at Rice University (B.A. 2000 Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). During doctoral research in organic chemistry at Harvard University (Ph.D. 2005), he developed a novel method for using DNA to discover new chemical reactions. He then moved into inorganic chemistry for his postdoctoral studies as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he discovered a water oxidation catalyst that operates in neutral water. He joined the Stanford Chemistry Department faculty in 2009 to continue research into energy-related catalysis and reactions. His research and teaching have already been recognized in selection as one of Chemistry & Engineering News’ first annual Talented 12, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, Eli Lilly New Faculty Award, and recognition as a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Environmental Mentor, among other honors.
The Kanan Lab addresses fundamental challenges in catalysis and synthesis with an emphasis on enabling new technologies for scalable CO2 utilization. The interdisciplinary effort spans organic synthesis, materials chemistry and electrochemistry.
One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to transition to an energy economy with ultra-low greenhouse gas emissions without compromising quality of life for a growing population. The Kanan Lab aims to help enable this transition by developing catalysts and chemical reactions that recycle CO2 into fuels and commodity chemicals using renewable energy sources. To be implemented on a substantial scale, these methods must ultimately be competitive with fossil fuels and petrochemicals. With this requirement in mind, the group focuses on the fundamental chemical challenge of making carbon–carbon (C–C) bonds because multi-carbon compounds have higher energy density, greater value, and more diverse applications that one-carbon compounds. Both electrochemical and chemical methods are being pursued. For electrochemical conversion, the group studies how defects known as grain boundaries can be exploited to improve CO2/CO electro-reduction catalysis. Recent work has unveiled quantitative correlations between grain boundaries and catalytic activity, establishing a new design principle for electrocatalysis, and developed grain boundary-rich copper catalysts with unparalleled activity for converting carbon monoxide to liquid fuel. For chemical CO2 conversion, the group is developing C–H carboxylation and CO2 hydrogenation reactions that are promoted by simple carbonate salts. These reactions provide a way to make C–C bonds between un-activated substrates and CO2 without resorting to energy-intensive and hazardous reagents. Among numerous applications, carbonate-promoted carboxylation enables the synthesis of a monomer used to make polyester plastic from CO2 and a feedstock derived from agricultural waste.
In addition to CO2 chemistry, the Kanan group is pursuing new strategies to control selectivity in molecular catalysis for fine chemical synthesis. Of particular interest in the use of electrostatic interactions to discriminate between competing reaction pathways based on their charge distributions. This effort uses ion pairing or interfaces to control the local electrostatic environment in which a reaction takes place. The group has recently shown that local electric fields can control regioselectivity in isomerization reactions catalyzed by gold complexes. -
Mark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D.
Dennis Farrey Family Professor in Pediatrics, and Professor of Genetics
Current Research and Scholarly Interests Mark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D. Director of the Program in Human Gene Therapy and Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics. Respected worldwide for his work in gene therapy for hemophilia, Dr. Kay and his laboratory focus on establishing the scientific principles and developing the technologies needed for achieving persistent and therapeutic levels of gene expression in vivo. The major disease models are hemophilia, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B viral infections.
-
John Kerner
Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology) at the Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital
Current Research and Scholarly Interests I am interested in pediatric nutritional support and have experience evaluating new enteral and parenteral products especially for the neonate (I studied a "new" I.V. fat product for Abbott; I participated in a multicenter trial of a formula with fish oil in it for neonates with Mead Johnson and a multicenter trial of a new human milk fortifier for Wyeth).
-
Kajal Khanna, MD, JD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly Interests Global pediatric emergency medicine research, educational scholarship, pediatric emergency medical care in low- and middle- income countries and rights-based approaches to health systems development
-
Paul A. Khavari, MD, PhD
Carl J. Herzog Professor in Dermatology in the School of Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly Interests We work in epithelial tissue as a model system to study stem cell biology, cancer and new molecular therapeutics. Epithelia cover external and internal body surfaces and undergo constant self-renewal while responding to diverse environmental stimuli. Epithelial homeostasis precisely balances stem cell-sustained proliferation and differentiation-associated cell death, a balance which is lost in many human diseases, including cancer, 90% of which arise in epithelial tissues.
