About

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Stevens is known for its legacy of fostering and nurturing groundbreaking, world-class innovation.

Dr. Irving Langmuir, a former Stevens Chemistry faculty member, won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries in surface chemistry. Stevens was among the first to offer an undergraduate chemical biology degree in 1978 and today remains at the forefront of chemical biology with our internationally recognized faculty in the healthcare domain as well as with professionally diverse experiences in academia and industry.In the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, our mission is to:

• Create new knowledge with focus on advancing the field of chemical biology as our historic, unique, and synergistic intellectual frontier and anchoring the growth of interdisciplinary biomedical research at Stevens.

• Educate and empower tomorrow’s leaders and innovators with broad foundation in chemical and biological sciences, critical hands-on laboratory skills, integrative research spine experience, and global societal perspectives.

• Inspire students in introductory chemistry and biology courses using creative and evidence-based approaches, including active and problem-based learning, in a real world and global context.

• Expose students to career opportunities, as innovators, at the intersection between science, engineering, and medicine through research and clinical experiences, industrial internships, and study abroad programs.

Message from the Chair

Dr. Woo Lee, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical BiologyChemistry and chemical biology is a thriving department at the Stevens Institute of Technology. In addition to offering access to spectacular views of New York City, the regional area has the highest concentration of healthcare-related enterprises in the world, including hospital networks and clinics, health insurance providers, pharmaceutical, life science and medical device companies, and other supporting industries.

With access to numerous regional resources, our students benefit from many experiential research and internship opportunities, and placement rates for graduates that are among the highest in the nation, including acceptance to medical school.

The department offers a several unique programs of study at the interface of chemistry, chemical biology, and biology, offering students the opportunity to work with a vibrant group of faculty who are performing research in areas such as computational, medicinal, physical and peptide chemistry, cancer biology and organoid-based disease modeling, drug discovery, and development and application of advanced bio analytical methods.

Even with these diverse research opportunities, we remain a relatively small department, which allows our students to develop close working relationships with faculty members. We strive to maintain a collegial environment, and we continue to offer small class sizes with updated teaching facilities. I invite you to join our community of researchers with molecular, cellular, and computational minds as a student member.

Dr. Woo Lee

Department Administration

Dr. Woo Lee
Department Chair
[email protected]
201-216-8307
McLean 511-A

Mary Newell
Office Manager
[email protected]
201-216-5266
McLean 511-C

Academic Contacts

Dr. Patricia Anne Muisener
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education
[email protected]
201-216-3715
McLean 511-B

Dr. Kenny Wong
Associate Chair for Graduate Education
[email protected]
201-216-8957
McLean 512

Dr. Abhishek Sharma
Ph.D. Programs Coordinator
[email protected]
201-216-3539
McLean 314

Jeffrey Lam
Academic Advisor, Undergraduate and Graduate
[email protected]
201-216-5528
McLean 511-D

The external advisory board of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology is comprised of a diverse group of distinguished individuals in their careers as well as our recent alumni from a spectrum of fields related to the educational and research programs of the department. The board meets at least once per year, and is charged with reviewing programs and providing counsel and advocacy to the department's mission and strategic plan.

Members

Scott Alpizar, Ph.D. (2023-2026) 

Director of Venture Commercialization, New Jersey Health Foundation and Foundation Venture Capital Group

Scott Alpizar is the Director of Venture Commercialization with the New Jersey Health Foundation and Foundation Venture Capital Group, where he plays a critical role in sourcing, evaluating, and closing deals for potential investment. He also works directly with academic entrepreneurs and management teams of health-related early-stage startup companies to support their commercialization needs, including research and development plants, intellectual property strategies, and financial modeling. He earned two BS degrees from the University of New Haven in Forensic Science and Pre-Medical Biology and completed his PhD in neuroscience at Dartmouth College, where he studied the development and function of one of the structures responsible for neuronal signaling. He is passionate about supporting the innovation ecosystem throughout New Jersey and across the country with a specific emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Michael Bertucci '09, Ph.D. (2023-2026)

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Lafayette College

Michael Bertucci graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with BS in Chemical Biology before pursuing his PhD in Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the mentorship of Dr. Michel R. Gagné. He joined the chemistry department at Hartwick College as a Visiting Assistant Professor in 2014 before moving to Moravian University for a tenure-track appointment one year later. In 2021, he accepted an offer to join the chemistry department at his current institution, Lafayette College. He has taught courses in Organic Chemistry I & II, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Nursing Chemistry and Senior Seminar for Chemistry and Biochemistry Majors. He is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award and was named a Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar in 2023.

Lance Richard Bruck, M.D., CPE, FACOG, FACS (2021–2027)

Vice President and Chairman, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health, Jersey City Medical Center

Lance Richard Bruck is a Clinical Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Bruck also holds the academic positions of residency program director, fellowship director in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, medical student clerkship director and serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees at his alma mater, Muhlenberg College. Dr. Bruck has spent 30 years in academic medicine holding positions at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Columbia University, College of Physician & Surgeons, Yale University and New York Medical College.

Benjamin Gill '99, MBA (2024-2027)

Principal (Partner), Strategy Consulting Business Unit, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Benjamin Gill is a Principal (Partner) in the Deals Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) leading the Health Industries Private Equity Value Creation team. He works with Private Equity firms and their respective portfolio companies assessing the operations of the business to identify opportunities to realize improvements in profitability and value. Ben graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1999 with a BS degree in Chemical Biology. Leveraging his degree from Stevens, Ben joined Merck & Company working in Vaccine Technology and Engineering supporting one of Merck’s vaccine franchises, and then subsequently was a Manufacturing Supervisor for the same franchise. He then received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management where he entered the Consulting industry. Ben is very enthusiastic about supporting CCB graduates and students exploring non-traditional career pathways that leverage the CCB Stevens degree.

Alexa Hacopian M.S. '22 (2024-2027)

Senior Scientist, Sterility, Biocompatibility and Chemistry, Stryker

Alexa Hacopian is a Senior Scientist at Stryker in the Joint Replacement division where she conducts chemical residual analysis, method development on new lab instrumentation specific to medical devices, as well as working on lab optimization efforts for continuous improvement and efficiencies. Alexa also conducts biocompatibility assessments for orthopedic and robotic devices under new product development projects coming to market. Alexa Hacopian graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in December 2022 with her MS in Chemistry, focusing in Analytical and Biomedical Chemistry.

Simarna Kaur '02 M.S. '04 Ph.D. '08 (2021–2027)

Director, R&D, Kenvue (formerly Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health)

Simarna Kaur is the Director of Global Selfcare Upstream Innovation R&D at Kenvue (formerly Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health). She has extensive experience in developing new and innovative science for consumer health, and is an inventor on 20 granted US patents, and a co-author on 18 peer-reviewed publications and 6 book chapters. Simarna has been actively mentoring new scientists and shaping talent development programs at Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). She is a recipient of multiple leadership awards, including the prestigious Johnson Medal (the highest research award given within J&J, and was also recognized as one of the “trailblazing” women scientists at J&J.

Pek Lum, Ph.D. (2022–2025)

Chief Executive Officer, Auransa, Inc.

Pek Lum is the co-founder and CEO of Auransa Inc., a computationally-driven pharmaceutical company. She is the chief architect of the science behind Auransa’s technology, combining her deep understanding of genomics and her vast experience in applying data science in the pharmaceutical industry. Before founding Auransa, Pek was an early employee and vice president of Product and chief data scientist for Ayasdi, a deep tech software company, where she created early business verticals and helped grow the company. Pek started off her career at Rosetta Inpharmatics, a pioneer in genomics and microarray technology. After Rosetta's acquisition by Merck, Pek continued to champion the integration of data science into biology, contributing to Merck’s development pipeline. Pek did her undergraduate degree as a Monbusho Scholar at Hokkaido University, Japan and received her PhD studying yeast genetics at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her work has been widely published in scientific and medical journals, such as Nature and Cell, and her research has contributed to discoveries in drug development and the understanding of complex diseases.

Michael Milone '93, M.D., Ph.D. (2024-2027)

Associate Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Dr. Michael Milone is an Associate Professor and Associate Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Academic Affair in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His research is focused on the development of genetically engineered T cell immunotherapies for the treatment of disease. Although cancer remains a major area of interest for his laboratory, Dr. Milone’s research also explores applications of engineered T cells to non-malignant disease, most notably antibody-mediated autoimmune disease. Dr. Milone is a co-inventor of tisagenlecleucel (CTL019, KymriahÒ), the first US FDA-approved gene therapy that employs T cells genetically modified with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD19 for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, and he research has led to numerous pending and granted patents filed in the area of CAR technology and engineered T cell therapy, placing him consistently in the top 10 inventors in the area (Lyu L et al Nat Biotech 2020, PMID: 33273733). He is also a scientific co-founder of Cabaletta Bio (NASDAQ: CABA) and Verismo Therapeutics. Dr. Milone received his BS in Chemical Biology from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1993 and his MD and PhD in experimental pathology in 1999 from New Jersey Medical School and UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. In addition to his active translational research program in T cell-based immunotherapy, Dr. Milone is a practicing clinical pathologist, and Associate Director of the Toxicology Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Rick Monsma, Ph.D. (2023-2026)

Senior Vice President of Scientific Operation, New York Stem Cell Foundation

Rick Monsma is the Senior Vice President of Scientific Operations at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute, and a molecular pharmacologist with extensive experience in cellular assay development to advance drug discovery. During his 20+ years of leadership in the pharmaceutical industry, he has managed a variety of teams and projects supporting all stages of preclinical drug discovery, including many efforts in neurological diseases. Dr. Monsma's research has made critical advancements in the identification, sequencing, and characterization of G-protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), which are a large family of proteins representing the largest class of targets for FDA-approved drugs. Since joining the NYSCF Research Institute in 2017, he has managed the laboratories and daily operations, including strategic guidance for internal and collaborative research programs.

Oscar Puig, Ph.D. (2024-2027)

Vice President, Translational Medicine and Diagnostics, Nucleai

Oscar Puig currently holds the position of VP, Translational Medicine & Diagnostics at Nucleai, an AI-powered image analysis and biomarker development company. Prior to joining Nucleai, Oscar held leadership positions at BeiGene, Lilly, BMS, Roche, and Merck, with a focus on biomarkers and diagnostics in oncology clinical development. Oscar Puig holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Valencia, Spain, and postdoctoral stages at EMBL, Germany and UC Berkeley, US.

Christina Puntiel '20 M.S. '21 (2022-2025)

Analytical Chemist, Oral Product Development, Bristol Myers Squibb

Christina Puntiel graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 2020 with a BS in Chemistry, and then a MS in Chemistry in 2021. She currently works as an Analytical Chemist at Bristol Myers Squibb in their Oral Product Development group. In addition, she works part-time at Stevens Institute of Technology as the Graduate Program Assistant for the Art Harper Saturday Academy, a precollege program dedicated to inspiring and preparing high school students to pursue post-secondary education and careers in STEM related fields. While at Stevens, she was heavily involved with the American Chemical Society, Chi Alpha Epsilon National Honor Society, Stevens Technical Enrichment Program, and the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Christina is committed to giving back to her community and changing the lives of others through innovation.

Olivia Schreiber '18, M.D. (2024-2027)

Resident Physician, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School

Olivia Schreiber is set to graduate from Cooper Medical School in 2024 with an MD and will be pursuing a residency in internal medicine. Prior to entering medical school, Olivia earned a MA in science writing through Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs while simultaneously working at BonBouton, a medical-device start-up company whose graphene technology emerged out of a Stevens lab. While at Stevens Institute of Technology, Olivia earned a BS in chemical biology and immersed herself in both campus life and scholarly activity. She has remained an active alumna, serving as both a Young Alumni Trustee and Appointed Voting Director of the Stevens Alumni Association between 2018 and 2020. She continues to serve as the 2018 Class President and looks forward to continuing her advocacy for the Chemistry and Chemical Biology program on the External Advisory Board.

Steven Toth '04, DMD (2024-2027)

Associate Professor, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine

Dr. Steven S. Toth earned a BS in Chemical Biology through the accelerated seven-year joint dental program with Stevens Institute of Technology in 2004 and went on to earn his DMD degree from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine in 2007. After graduation from dental school, he went on to practice at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine’s University Dental Center at Galloway, where he was appointed the Clinical Director of the Ryan White Program. Currently, Dr. Toth is Associate Professor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Toth has served as the Vice President of the RSDM Academic Assembly, Faculty Advisor, and has sat on the RSDM Admissions Committee.

Benjamin Tycko, M.D., Ph.D. (2021–2027)

Member, HMH Center for Discovery and Innovation (HMH-CDI) and Professor of Medical Sciences, Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine

Dr. Benjamin Tycko joined the recently established HMH Center for Discovery & Innovation (CDI), in Nutley NJ, as a founding member in 2018 - moving there after three decades as a faculty member at Columbia. Starting with pioneering early studies of genomic imprinting in human development and cancer, his lab has formed a focus on genetic-epigenetic interactions, including high-resolution mapping of allele-specific DNA methylation (ASM), followed by functional validations using CRISPR-Cas9, to precisely pinpoint genetic variants that underlie inter-individual differences in susceptibility to a broad range of common human diseases. Dr. Tycko’s lab has been continuously NIH-funded throughout his career, with his most recent grants, from the NIH and DOD, dealing with genetic-epigenetic mapping and functional assays in multiple myeloma and kidney cancers. At the same time, in collaboration with Dr. Eugene Yu at Roswell Park, his lab is elucidating an important trans-acting genetic-epigenetic interaction, in which a simple chromosomal aneuploidy produces altered DNA methylation patterns across the entire genome. This phenomenon is exemplified by human Down syndrome (trisomy 21), and the mechanistic findings in that syndrome have implications for cancers with other chromosomal and sub-chromosomal aneuploidies. The long-term goal of all these studies, which have been published in Nature Genetics, the American Journal of Human Genetics, Genome Biology, and other journals, is discovery of genes, genetic variants, and biological pathways that can be targeted for disease treatment and prevention. 

Adam Weinglass, Ph.D. (2022-2025)

Executive Director, Screening and Compound Profiling Department, Merck & Co.

Adam Weinglass has led the Screening & Compound Profiling Department since 2018. He drives the application of cutting-edge capabilities towards the identification and progression of small molecule, cyclic peptide and degrader chemical matter. Adam has also held positions of Director Automated Ligand Identification Systems (ALIS) & High-throughput Experimentation, Director of Cellular Pharmacology, Research Fellow (Diabetes) and Senior Research Biochemist (Ion Channels) since his hire to Merck in 2004. Prior to Merck, Adam was a Research Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of California Los Angeles, where he worked with Drs. Kaback, Faull & Whitelegge to explore the mechanism of action of molecular membrane transporters utilizing biochemical, biophysical & mass spectral approaches. Adam’s research has resulted in over 40 publications, reviews and U.S. patents. His discovery efforts have contributed towards several clinical candidates, research collaborations and state-of-the-art technologies. Adam received a 1st class BSc in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of Leeds and a PhD from the same Department studying the over expression, purification and characterization of recombinant mammalian sugar transporters.

Browse current and past CCB newsletters using the links below.

• Dec 2023 Newsletter

• Dec 2022 Newsletter

• Jan 2022 Newsletter

• Jan 2021 Newsletter