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Chris Presley, Ph.D.

Drug Discovery Scientist


Education

Virginia Tech, 2017
Ph.D. Organic Chemistry

Concord University, 2010
B.S. Comprehensive Chemistry

Biosketch and Research Interests

Chris, no relation to Elvis, comes to the Lindsley Lab from Shady Spring, West Virginia. He earned his B.S. in Comprehensive Chemistry from Concord University in Athens, West Virginia in 2010. During his time at Concord University he was introduced to natural products chemistry research by Dr. Darrell Crick.

After completing his B.S. he continued to conduct natural products research at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Beckley, West Virginia working under Dr. Joyce Foster. After a year of working for the ARS Chris attended graduate school at Virginia Tech where he obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under Dr. David G. I. Kingston focusing on the isolation and structure elucidation of anticancer and antimalarial natural products from plants.

Chris joined the Lindsley lab as a postdoctoral research fellow in April 2018 and is currently working on utilizing CYP450 biomimetics and LCMS/MS to produce and identify metabolite-like molecules. Chris also helps run solubility assays and conducts chiral supercritical fluid chromatography separations for the lab. Chris’ research interests include chromatography and structure elucidation.

Selected Publications

Presley, C.C.; Valenciano, A.L.; Fernández-Murga, M.L.; Du, Y.; Shanaiah, N.; Cassera, M.B.; Goetz, M.; Clement, J.A.; Kingston, D.G.I. ‘Antiplasmodial Chromanes and Chromenes from the Monotypic Plant Species Koeberlinia spinose’ Journal of Natural Products (2018); 81(3): 475-483. {DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00579; PMID: 29048892}

Presley, C.C.; Du, Y.; Dalal, S.; Merino, E.F.; Butler, J.H.; Rakotonandrasana, S.; Rasamison, V.E.; Cassera, M.B.; Kingston, D.G.I. ‘Isolation, structure elucidation, and synthesis of antiplasmodial quinolones from Crinum firmifolium’ Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry (2017); 25(15): 4203-4211. {DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2017.06.017; PMID: 28648491}

Presley, C.C.; Krai, P.; Dalal, S.; Su, Q.; Cassera, M.; Goetz, M.; Kingston, D.G.I. ‘New potently bioactive alkaloids from Crinum erubescens’ Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry (2016); 24(21): 5418-5422. {DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2016.08.058; PMID: 27624525}

Presley, C.C.; Rakotondraibe, L.H.; Brodie, P.J.; Callmander, M.W.; Randrianaivo, R.; Rasamison, V.E.; Rakotobe, E.; Kingston, D.G.I. ‘A Synthetic Butenolide Diterpene is now a Natural Product Isolated from Metaporana sericosepala, a Plant from the Madagascar Dry Forest’ Natural Product Communications (2015); 10(9): 1505-1507. {PMID: 26435765}