PI: James A. Law, Ph.D.
Bio: Dr. Law grew up in Marietta, GA where he learned to love the outdoors and became interested in the relationship between plants and human disease. He obtained his B.S. in Biochemistry at Kennesaw State University. At KSU, he was involved with his first organic chemistry research under the guidance of Prof. John Haseltine. Prof. Haseltine instilled a love for complex molecular structures and the puzzling required to build them. He couldn’t get enough time in the lab to satisfy his immense and growing craving for learning in the lab. To fix this, he joined a second research team, guided by Prof. Chris Alexander where he learned the careful techniques required for air-free chemical synthesis. All of this passion for organic chemistry was unmatched until he met Prof. Jim Frederich at Florida State University. He joined the Frederich lab in its infancy and had opportunities to work on beautiful natural products in the fusiccocane, ophiobolane and abietane families. He ended up needing to develop a method for the hydromethylation of a very unreactive alkene using Tebbe’s reagent. This sparked a new interest for Dr. Law in applying transition metal chemistry to organic synthesis. With a lucky break, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Steve Buchwald at MIT with support from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. At MIT, Dr. Law cut his teeth on asymmetric catalysis and developed nitroalkanes as electrophiles for stereodefined, catalytically generated organocopper complexes. Dr. Law missed the southeast and graciously accepted a position at the University of West Florida where he runs the LRG and teaches courses in Organic Chemistry.
Special Interests: Playing Outside (Being a Dad), Banjo Picking, Powerlifting, Project Cars, Road Tripping Around our Beautiful Country
Research Scientist: Megan Solans, Ph.D.
Bio: Megan was born and raised in Mount Prospect, IL where she learned a love for medicine from her parents, a Pathologist and a Nursing Professor. She obtained her B.S. in Biochemistry at Loyola University in Chicago where she was first exposed to the power of organic synthesis to help solve problems in human disease. In her early foray into research involved studying carbonyl-olefin metathesis under the guidance of Prof. Jim Devery. At this point, she was tired of being cold and happily moved down to Tallahassee, FL. She obtained her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Florida State University under the guidance of Prof. Jim Frederich. Here, she developed a non-biomimetic, divergent strategy for terpene assembly which relied on an interesting photochemical cascade. Using this strategy, she completed the synthesis of both taxodione and salviasperanol. She became interested in developing taxodione as a potential treatment for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Her early success in this field led her to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry. To this end, she worked with the Discovery Process Team at Merck Pharmaceuticals in Boston, MA. To her chagrin, it was cold there too. After a multi-year tenure she accepted a job teaching chemistry at UWF. Dr. Solans is a dedicated member of the LRG where her expertise in chemical synthesis drive the laboratory momentum.
Special Interests: Being a Mom, Stained Glass, Gardening, Running, Beach Bumming
Undergraduate Colleagues
Trinity Perez
Major: Biomedical Science
Class of 2028
Lab Animals
Tomas Jefferson (TJ) Law
Bio: TJ was found behind a dumpster in Tallahassee and given to Dr. Law. TJ has been on many adventures throughout the country and seen more things than most cats his age. His wisdom exceeds his ability to communicate in plain English.
Oophelio (Oophy) Law
Bio: Oophy is TJ’s younger brother. He born in Tallahassee, FL with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was adopted by Dr. Solans at during his kitten hood where he gained a love for sitting on the porch and finding water in the strangest of places (anywhere except a water bowl). Due to a lack of opposable thumbs, Oophy has not yet obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry (not for lack of effort).
