The Symposium drew the community together to celebrate Dr. Taylor's continuous contribution to the Department, the WashU campus, and the scientific community at large.
The Symposium kicked off on Sunday, June 16th, as many former and current undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers from the Taylor Group returned to the Washington University in St. Louis campus to join the celebration of Dr. John-Stephen Taylor's 70th birthday. The Symposium celebrated Dr. Taylor and his years of impact, dedication, and wisdom and was followed by a banquet at the Knight Center. Present were former Taylor Lab Group alumni from as early as 1983, the year when Dr. Taylor joined the WashU Chemistry Department.
Second row: Alan Pan, Phil Ordoukhanian, Jeffrey Hartgerink, Kaijiang Zhang, Michael Cohrs, Ian Brockie, Daniel Garrett, Phil Dawson, Dan Svoboda, Zhenghui Wang, Jianquan (David) Liu, Yinsheng Wang, Xiaodong Zhao, Shang Yin.
Missing: Hussam Bdour, Ajay Kshetry, Belle Endom, Olivia Vergason
During the event, Dr. Taylor was recognized and celebrated for his 41 years at WashU with a series of presentations covering the remarkable work the Taylor Group has pioneered, the current research of his current and previous lab members, and the many sweet memories created in and out of the lab over the years.
Current faculty, staff, and students of the WashU Chemistry Department were also in attendance. The Department has seen tremendous growth since 1983, with Dr. Taylor and his group being the catalyst for many impactful changes during their time at WashU.
List of Returning Alumni Guest Speakers:
Jiangfeng Cai - Preeminent and Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida
Ian Brockie – Sigma Aldrich
Phil Dawson - Professor of Chemistry, Scripps Research Institute
Michael Cohrs - Director of Quality Assurance, Asendis Pharmaceuticals
Dan Svoboda - Computational Scientist, SciOme, LLC
Xiaodong Zhao - Principal Scientist, Abbott
Jeff Hartgerink - Professor of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Rice University
Yinsheng Wang - Professor of Chemistry, UC Riverside
Xuan Yue - Principal Scientist, Abbott Diagnostics
Ajay Kshetry - Senior Scientist, Tjaden Biosciences
Bich Vu – Senior Manager, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
Dian Su - Senior Director of DMPK, Bicycle Therapeutics
Rongsheng Wang - Professor of Chemistry, Temple University
Jillian Smith-Carpenter - Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Fairfield College
Savannah Scruggs & Natashia Yang - Current Graduate Students
Nan Jiang - Vice President of Operations, Biolegend
