Education
B.S. University of California, San Diego, 2008
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 2013
Postdoc Memorial Sloan Kettering, NIH Ruth Kirschstein Fellow, 2013 – 2017
Biological Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Andrew G. Roberts
Associate Professor
Email: roberts@chem.utah.edu
Phone: 801-213-3648
Office Location:
3170 HEB
Accepting Graduate Students in Fall 2026
ACTIVITIES AND AWARDS
- NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32, MSKCC), 2014 – 2017
- Graduate Dissertation Year Fellowship (UCLA), 2012 – 2013
- Senior Christopher S. Foote Fellowship in Organic Chemistry (UCLA), 2011 – 2013
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- The Roberts laboratory will be open August 2017
- Research in the Roberts laboratory is focused on the design and chemical synthesis of peptide-based therapeutics. Our chemistry draws inspiration from the unique structural elements and function present in ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) and miniproteins. We are interested in the development of chemoselective methods for peptide ligation, macrocyclization, glycosylation and modification.
- Additionally, we are interested in discovering catalysis methods for the cleavage and functionalization of carbon-nitrogen (C–N) bonds in small molecule and natural product synthesis efforts.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Adam M. Levinson†, John H. McGee†*, Andrew G. Roberts†*, Gardner Creech, Ting Wang, Michael T. Peterson, Ronald C. Hendrickson, Gregory L. Verdine, Samuel J. Danishefsky* “Total Chemical Synthesis and Folding of All-L and All-D Variants of Oncogenic KRas(G12V)” J. Am. Chem. Soc.2017, 7632 – 7639. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b02988
- Andrew G. Roberts†*, Eric V. Johnston†, Jae-Hung Shieh, Joseph P. Sondey, Ronald C. Hendrickson, Malcolm A. S. Moore, Samuel J. Danishefsky* “Fully Synthetic Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) Enabled by Isonitrile-Mediated Coupling of Large, Side-Chain Unprotected Peptides” J. Am. Chem. Soc.2015, 137, 13167 – 13175. DOI:10.1021/jacs.5b08754
- Hui Ding†, Andrew G. Roberts†, Patrick G. Harran* “Total Synthesis of Ageliferin via Acyl N-amidinyliminium Ion Rearrangement” Chem. Sci.2013, 4, 303 – 306. DOI:10.1039/C2SC21651E
- Hui Ding, Andrew G. Roberts, Patrick G. Harran* “Synthetic (±)-Axinellamines Deficient in Halogen” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2012, 51, 4340 – 4343. DOI:10.1002/anie.201200205 (VIP paper)
- Qingyi Li, Paul Hurley, Hui Ding, Andrew G. Roberts, Radha Akella, Patrick G. Harran* “Exploring Symmetry-Based Logic for a Synthesis of Palau’amine” J. Org. Chem.2009, 74, 5909 – 5919. DOI:10.1021/jo900755r