Welcome to the Schultz Lab

Our research program combines the tools and principles of chemistry with the molecules and processes of living cells to synthesize new molecules and molecular assemblies with novel physical, chemical and biological functions.  By studying the structure and function of the resulting molecules, new insights can be gained into the mechanisms of complex biological and chemical systems. Active research projects span the interface of biology, chemistry, and materials science, and include:

• the generation and characterization of catalytic antibodies
• the development and application of methods for adding new building blocks to the genetic codes of  prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms
• the application of molecular diversity to problems in biological structure, recognition and catalysis, drug discovery, and materials science
• chemical and genomics studies of stem cell biology, oncogenesis and neurodegeneration

Peter G. Schultz did his undergraduate and graduate work at the California Institute of Technology. His thesis work with Peter Dervan resulted in the first synthetic molecules (polypyrroleamides) that sequence-selectively cleave DNA. In 1985, after postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Chris Walsh, he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was Professor of Chemistry, Principal Investigator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Schultz joined the faculty of Scripps in 1999 where he is currently the Scripps Professor of Chemistry. He is also the Institute Director of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) in San Diego, CA.  The 500+ staff at GNF are developing and applying state of the art high throughput chemical, proteomics and genomics technologies to identify novel genes and biological processes, as well as develop new therapeutics for human disease.  In addition, Schultz is a founder of Affymax Research Institute, Syrrx, Kalypsys, Phenomix, Symyx Therapeutics, Ilypsa and Ambrx, pioneers in the application of diversity based approaches to problems in chemistry, materials science and medicine. His awards include the Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation, membership in the National Academy of Sciences and National Institute of Medicine, the 1994 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the 2003 Paul Ehrlich Prize, and the 2005 Arthur C. Cope Award of the American Chemical Society.

A complete curriculum vitae for Professor Schultz is also available.

Group Information

The group occupies 10,000 square feet of laboratory space in the Stein Clinical Research Center, adjacent to the Beckman Center for Chemical Sciences. The lab currently consists of roughly 40 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff. Coworkers typically go on to careers in academics, biotech or the pharmaceutical industry (past group members are on the faculties of 50 research universities around the world). In addition to research opportunities in the lab at Scripps, there are close collaborations with Professors Sheng Ding (http://www.scripps.edu/chem/ding), Floyd Romesberg (http://www.scripps.edu/chem/romesberg/index.htm) and Ashok Deniz (www.scripps.edu/mb/deniz) at TSRI, many Principal Investigators just across the street at GNF, as well as faculty at Salk, UCSD and other academic institutions.