People

Meet the Principal Investigator

Myles Smith, Ph.D.

Myles Smith, Ph.D.

Myles Smith is a synthetic organic chemist and native of Cape Town, South Africa. He obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) degree at the University of Cape Town, and subsequently undertook graduate studies at Columbia University under the direction of Scott Snyder. His doctoral research focused on the total synthesis of complex alkaloids and the development of novel pyrone-based methods. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 2015,​ Myles conducted postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute and then at Stanford University with Phil Baran and Noah Burns, respectively, where his research centered upon the synthesis of bioactive natural products and asymmetric catalysis. Myles began his independent career at UT Southwestern in June 2019, where his lab seeks to streamline the synthesis of complex molecules of medicinal value and develop tools in asymmetric catalysis.​

Lab Members

Andrew Morrow

Graduate Student

B.S. (2021) UNC Chapel Hill

Andrew Morrow

Ankush Banerjee

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D. (2021) Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Advisor: Prof. Modhu Sudan Maji)
M.Sc. (2014) Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (Advisor: Prof. Subhas Pan)
B.Sc. (2012) University of Calcutta

Ankush Banerjee

Bhawyanth Duvvuru

Graduate Student

B.Sc. Hons. (2022) University of Alberta (Advisor: Dr. Derrick Clive)

Bhawyanth Duvvuru

Tarak Nayak

Graduate Student

M.Sc. (2022) Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Advisor: Prof. Modhu Sudan Maji)

B.Sc. (2020) Midnapore College (Vidyasagar University)

Tarak Nayak

Gabriel Negrao de Morais

Undergraduate Researcher

SURF Scholar

B.A. (2025) Oberlin College

Harish Suryadevara

Former Lab Members

Zhen Zhang

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D. (2019) Lanzhou University (Advisors: Profs. Hongbin Zhai and Yun Li)
M.S. (2014) Shenyang Research Institute of Chemical Industry (Prof. Bin Li)
B.S. (2011) China University of Mining and Technology

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Tang Group (UW–Madison)

Zhen Zhang

Susanta Sau

Postdoctoral Fellow

Postdoctoral Fellow (2019) Rice University (Advisor: Prof. K. C. Nicolaou)
Ph.D. (2018) Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
(Advisor: Prof. D. H. Dethe)
M.Sc. (2012) Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
(Advisor: Prof. M. K. Ghorai)
B.Sc. (2010) University of Calcutta

Current Position: Medicinal Chemist, Syngene

Susanta Sau

Fan Xu

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D. (2019) Xiamen University (Advisor: Prof. Hai-chao Xu)
M.S. (2016) Xiamen University (Advisor: Prof. Hai-chao Xu)
B.S. (2013) Nanchang University (Advisor: Prof. Hu Cai)

Current Position: Medicinal Chemist, Hansoh Bio

Fan Xu

Harish Suryadevara

Undergraduate Researcher

Green Fellow

B.S. (2024) UT Dallas

Harish Suryadevara

Jake Aquilina

Graduate Student

B.S. (2019) CUNY John Jay College

Ph.D. (2023)

Current Position: Medicinal Chemist, AbbVie

Jake Aquilina