About Us

Research in the Howell group encompasses projects involving method development, total synthesis and the interface of chemistry and biology.  The two main foci are the synthesis and exploitation of unusual strained heterocycles and the preparation of glycosphingolipids that activate natural killer T (NKT) cells. (more...)

Research

The Group

News

  • Check out our latest publications
    Exciting news: our current lab members, Jason, JJ, and Tae, published their work on the synthesis of 4-bromo-2,3-dihydrofurans in Chemical Science. Additionally, a collaborative work between the Howell and the Cravatt groups on ABHD17 inhibition studies in Nature Chemical Biology has been published. Congratulations!
    Posted on July 21, 2021
  • Check out our latest publications
    Exciting news: our current group member, Pascal, published his work on chemical probe development in ChemBioChem. Additionally, our former group member, Santosh, published an article in ACS Chemical Biology about his study on the potent stimulation of iNKT cells and anti-tumor immunity in humanized mouse model by modified KRN7000. Congratulations, guys!
    Posted on December 22, 2020
  • ACS-CVS C-H Activation Symposium
    Past and current members of the Howell group had a great time at the ACS-CVS symposium on Solutions to Challenging C-C Bond formation.  The first talk was given by former member Christian Malapit, who is currently undergoing a postdoc in Melanie Sanford’s lab at the University of Michigan. He did a great job, Congrats Christian! […]
    Posted on September 25, 2018