Celebrating Medicinal Chemistry's Graduates in the First Half of 2026

Now that is fully summer on our UMN campus in the Twin Cities, we’d like to take a moment to recognize the five phenomenal students who graduated from the program in the first half of 2026:

Bo Hu, PhD
“Small Molecule Inhibition of cGAS-STING Signaling in Inflammatory Retinal Disease”
Advisor: Dr. Adam S. Duerfeldt
Bo is taking some time to travel and plan for what’s next after graduating this month.

Abhishek Kulkarni, PhD
“Protease-Activatable Chemically Self-Assembled Nanorings as Immune Cell Engagers for Immunotherapy in Solid Tumors”
Advisor: Dr. Carston R. Wagner
Abhishek is finishing up some important work in the Wagner Lab as a postdoctoral scholar.

Julia Lee, PhD
“Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Small-Molecule Leads for Diabetic Retinopathy”
Advisor: Dr. Adam S. Duerfeldt
Julia has chosen to remain in the Duerfeldt Lab for some time as a postdoctoral scholar.

Melanie Nevins, MS
"More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Bimetallic Pt(IV)/Ga(III) Trojan Horses as Efficient and Safe Dual Action Broad Spectrum Antibiotics"
Advisor: Dr. Valerie Pierre
Melanie is taking some well-earned time to figure out her next steps.

Mackenzie Wyllie, PhD
“Targeting APOBEC3A and APOBEC3B in Cancer: Substrate Specificity, Allostery, and Degradation Strategies”
Advisor: Dr. Daniel A. Harki
Mackenzie will be staying on board with us as a postdoctoral scholar with Dr. Harki.

Each of these students had a unique journey through our program, and their experiences challenged them at times in different ways. We are proud of them for their dedication to their science, work ethic, and personal growth.

We know life has great things in store for each of you, but you will always be a Gopher in our eyes!