UCSD Chem Biochem

Welcome to UC San Diego Chemistry & Biochemistry

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is moving forward as two separate departments: Chemistry and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics.

Learn more:
https://t.co/MJDDRqXO9a
https://t.co/cPnhEVkNII

Follow Chemistry on @X: @UCSDChem

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

We are happy to announce that our dean of the School of Physical Sciences Christine Hrycyna will be UC San Diego's next executive vice chancellor. Read more about Chris's career and the role of the EVC here: https://t.co/GBZGZXSzgi

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

.@UCSDChemBiochem prof Mark Thiemens' office looks like a museum. Artifacts from his travels are tucked between bookshelves. He’s spent decades studying isotopes in remote places. Now he's receiving America's oldest science prize. Story by Carly Kay/@KPBS
https://t.co/Pv4ADPBaCZ

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Re-org alert! We now have two distinct but closely aligned departments: 1) Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and 2) Chemistry. This change recognizes the growth and impact of the chemical and biochemical sciences at UC San Diego. https://t.co/xyKgjA4v5h @UCSDChemBiochem

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

🎉Congratulations to Prof. Haiwang Yong on receiving an
@NSF
#CAREER Award for his theoretical and computational research on diffractive imaging of molecular structure and dynamics with vortex beams. 🥳

@UCSanDiego

@UCSDPhySci

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

Celebrating the people who keep our department running every day! 🎉

Congratulations to this year's Staff Award recipients, and thank you to all of our staff for your dedication, teamwork, and commitment to our students, faculty, and community!

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

On the @J_A_C_S cover: A pyrrolidine dimer on Cu(100) turns a bistable switch into a controllable multilevel system. STM reveals 6 conformations & low-energy, two-step switching via intermolecular coupling. Congrats to the Li lab!
https://t.co/Een990LJi3

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Congratulations to @UCSDChemBiochem Distinguished Professor Bob Continetti on being appointed the Distinguished Chair in Physical Chemistry! 🎉

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

Congratulations, @PaesaniLab!

[Paesani Lab @PaesaniLab]

🎉 A proud day for our group at the @UCSDChemBiochem End-of-Year Awards Ceremony!

Congratulations to our fantastic #PhD students who were recognized for their achievements this year:
🏅 Henry — Teaching Assistant Excellence Award
🏅 Suman — Teddy Traylor Award for Research Excellence
🏅 Etienne — Chancellor's Dissertation Medal

We are incredibly proud of all they have accomplished and excited to see what comes next! 🏄‍♀️

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci @HDSIUCSD @SDSC_UCSD

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

Congratulations Jiwon!

[Paesani Lab @PaesaniLab]

And that's a wrap for #ICQC2026! 🎉

The conference ended on a high note with Jiwon (@huhji123) receiving an @AmerChemSociety PHYS Poster Award 🏆 for her research on improving the treatment of dispersion interactions, paving the way for the next generation of #datadriven #manybody potentials! 🚀

Huge congratulations, Jiwon! 🏄‍♀️

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci @UCSDChemBiochem @HDSIUCSD @SDSC_UCSD

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Congratulations to all of our outstanding graduate students who received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation! @NSF 🎉

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Congrats to @UCSDChemBiochem prof Fleur Ferguson on receiving the Philip S. Portoghese Early Career Award for the Advancement of Medicinal Chemistry from @AmerChemSociety, which recognizes exceptional scientists whose research is reshaping their fields. https://t.co/OhzYIWY2rt

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Congrats to @UCSDChemBiochem's Fleur Ferguson on receiving a 2026 @PershingSqFdn Sohn Cancer Prize. The grants are designed to empower investigators early in their independent careers, enabling them to pursue their most bold and high-impact projects. https://t.co/JRU9etR8tH

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Congratulations to @UCSDChemBiochem alumna @cancelada_lucia on being named a 2026 Schmidt Science Fellow. As a fellow, Lucia will explore how tiny ocean microbes help lock away carbon for centuries. Meet this year's cohort: https://t.co/NZC0hfPLfi @SchmidtFellows

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

🎉 Congratulations to Prof. Shaowei Li on receiving an @NSF #CAREER Award! 🎉

This prestigious recognition supports his work on controlling single-molecule reactivity, which opens new possibilities for directing chemical processes with atomic precision.

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

Congratulations to @UCSDChemBiochem Professor Vicki Grassian on being named the John Dove Isaacs Endowed Chair in Natural Philosophy for Physical Sciences! 🎉

[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

Congratulations to Prof. Seth Cohen on his appointment as Dean of Physical Sciences at @UCIrvine! 🎉

We are proud to see one of our own take on this important leadership role. While we will miss him at @UCSanDiego, we look forward to seeing the impact he will have at @UCIrvine.

[UC Irvine @UCIrvine]

Seth Cohen has been appointed dean of UC Irvine's School of Physical Sciences. Cohen, an internationally recognized inorganic chemist, comes to UC Irvine from UC San Diego. @UCIPhysSci

🔖 https://t.co/QWMbTaYZON

[Paesani Lab @PaesaniLab]

🚨 Our Perspective on #supercooled #water is now out in @ScienceMagazine!

👉 https://t.co/UW6Xk3yCh7

More than 10 years ago, we introduced our #datadriven #manybody formalism to develop transferable potentials with chemical accuracy, starting with #water and leading to MB-pol.

Since then, MB-pol has been used to model #water across all phases, from the gas-phase dimer 🫧 to the liquid 🌊 and ice 🧊, consistently reproducing experimental data.

But our goal was never just agreement with experiment. We wanted to make predictions that experiments could test.

Last year, we predicted the location of #water. ⚡️

Today, new measurements infer a location remarkably close to our prediction. 😎

A very exciting moment for #datadriven #manybody potentials! 🚀

Big thanks to @NSF, @ENERGY, and @AFOSR for supporting the development and applications of MB-pol over the years!

@UCSDPhySci @UCSDChemBiochem @HDSIUCSD @SDSC_UCSD

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[UCSD Chem Biochem @UCSDChemBiochem]

A great night at the @AmerChemSociety National Meeting in Atlanta! 🎉

Congratulations to Prof. Tezcan (Bader Award) and Prof. Figueroa (Cotton Award) on these well-deserved honors. Proud to see their work recognized at the highest level of our field! 👏

@UCSanDiego @UCSDPhySci

[UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences @UCSDPhySci]

#BaseEditing is still a relatively new #biotechnology. Researchers are working to improve its efficiency, while lowering the incidence of unwanted bystander edits. @KomorLab has developed a new tool to do this. Their work appears in @NatureBiotech. https://t.co/smW2lVLjzn