Welcome to Yaoqiu Zhu's Lab

2023

Yaoqiu is invited to give a talk at the 27th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Long Beach, CA

The conference takes place in downtown Long Beach.

The conference takes place in downtown Long Beach

With old firends Dr. Zhang (UMass-Boston) & Dr. Wang (Arizona)

My first conference breaking into the chemical process field

Yaoqiu hosts his last academic visitor at UT-El Paso and long-time friend: Prof. Hairong Guan from University of Cincinnati

Caught up with Dr. Guan on his spring break travel in El Paso

Dr. Guan is excited to see through the boarder over to the other country

Yaoqiu's lab finally got another researcher... after two years!

Dr. Guan is getting used to the office backfacing NM and MEX

Yaoqiu participated in the Arizona Center for Drug Discovery Spring Summit - Therapeutic Development for Age-Related Diseases

The one-day symposium takes place at the UA College of Pharmacy

Rick is invited to give an inspiring keynote talk on ALS drug discovery

With Rick and the organizer (and good friend) Dr. Wei Wang

A walk tour on UA campus in the beautiful spring afternoon

Seminar visit to California State University at Long Beach (CSULB) (host Dr. Fangyuan Tian and Dr. Jason Schwans)

The CSULB campus overlooks the huge port and the Pacific Ocean

2022

Seminar visit to California State University at San Marcos (CSUSM) (host Dr. Kambiz Hamadani and Dr. Sajith Jayasinghe)

The CSUSM campus is located in the green valley of noth San Diego

With departmental chair Dr. Sajith (Jay) Jayasinghe

Seminar visit to Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA (host Dr. Ying Huang)

The WUHS campus sits between Los Angeles and Riverside

Seminar visit to California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA) (host Dr. Yong Ba and Dr. Michael Hayes)

The CSULA campus lies on the east side of downtown Los Angeles

The 47th National Organic Symposium (NOS 2022) in San Diego , CA

First talk by 2021 Nobel laureate Dr. Benjamin List (Max Planck)	The pandemic-deferred NOS was held in La Jolla Marriott	The pandemic-deferred NOS was held in La Jolla Marriott	2018 Nobel laureate Dr. Frances Arnold (CIT) & The Big Bang Theory
Dr. Ken Houk (UCLA) giving his Roger Adams Award talk.	Lunch with Mingji (Purdue-Emory) who gave a wonderful total synthesis talk	Afternoon industrial sessions & 4 night poster sessions (8-11 pm)	Lunch with Dr. Maleczka (Michigan State) & Dr. Inoue (Univ. of Tokyo)

Seminar visit to Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) (host Dr. Partha Basu)

Industrial connection: picked up by ex-AbbVie colleagues for dinner

The beautiful IUPUI campus in downtown Indianapolis

View of downtown Indianapolis from IUPUI campus

Dinner with department chair and host Dr. Partha Basu

Yaoqiu gave an invited short talk at the prestigious biennial Gordon Researh Conference - Marine Natural Product (MNP) in Ventura, CA

MNP-GRC at the harbor of Ventura, CA, 60 miles NW to LA

The coast line by the conference site in Ventura CA - surfer's paradise

The prestigious and private conference is ready to go

Traditional GRC drinking hours after night talks & poster sessions

Seminar visit back to Northwestern University (host Dr. Rick Silverman)

Yaoqiu's homecoming seminar trip back to Evanston/Northwestern	A cold early March day; students all bundled up walking to the Arch	Greeted by old friend Pam, Rick's longtime program assistant	Meeting individual faculty members including Dr. SonBinh Nguyen
with Rick's graduate students in front of Tech, Northwestern University	Lunch at Stacked & Folded (where Noyes Street Cafe used to be)	One of my dreams came true!! Rick gave an introduction before my talk	Dinner with Rick and Barbara wrapping up the homecoming trip

Seminar visit to University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) (host Dr. Duncan Wardrop)

Yaoqiu's seminar visit to University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)

Having lunch with chemistry graduate students of UIC at Greek town nearby

Feedback from motivated graduate students :)

Dinner with host Dr. Duncan Wardrop and Dr. Justin Mohr

Seminar visit to University of Notre Dame (host Dr. Rich Taylor)

Yaoqiu's seminar visit to University of Notre Dame

Meeting chemistry graduate students of Notre Dame for lunch

Yaoqiu gave seminar in the new chemistry & drug discovery building

Dinner with host Dr. Rich Taylor and Dr. Seth Brown

The 27th Enzyme Mechanisms Conference (EMC2022, Tucson, AZ)

Reception at the Catalina Foothills - Loews Ventana Canyon Resort

About 200 onsite attendees and a very exciting conference agenda

Nature's beauty paralles fascinating natural product bioscience

Hiking with new friends at the pandemic-deferred conference

Visiting College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona

Visiting Dr. Wei Wang at College of Pharmacy, Univ. of Arizona

Visiting Dr. Wei Wang at College of Pharmacy, Univ. of Arizona

Visiting Dr. Wei Wang at College of Pharmacy, Univ. of Arizona

Lunch with Wei, Director of Arizona Center for Drug Discovery

2021

Yaoqiu gave an invited talk at the ACS-SW in Austin, TX (the 1st conference since pandemic and 1st talk in organic synthesis!!)

Beautiful campus of UT-Austin brings back memories of PKU

View of the TX capital building from the UT-Austin campus

Giving my first talk in organic synthesis - it is a big change but it is very fun

Dinner with young hardcore synthesis PI's Tian & Myles (UT-SW)

One of the many ZOOM group meetings during the pandemic

Our weekly group meeting on ZOOM at the pandemic time

Samantha giving a GM talk on "Antitubulin pharmacology in cancer treatment and drug development"

Noelia giving a GM talk on "The role of H2S in ophthalmic homeostasis and treatment"

Samantha (undergrad) works on antitubulin assays after GM

2020

2019

The group celebrated the new semester at Sunset Kitchen	Our 1st total synthesis! (−)-PavB, a complex diterpenoid with 7 chiral centers. Sri and Libo sent the crude NMR at 3:35 pm, Jan 26, Saturday	Sri and Libo continued with our in-house preparative HPLC & high-vac rotavap and sent Yaoqiu the bottom NMR at 11:28 pm, Jan 26, Saturday	The NMR of our product was further refined upon lyophilization (bottom). Sri and Libo sent it to Yaoqiu at 1:34 pm, Jan 27, Sunday. Bravo effort!
An inspiring memory of accomplishment.	A group bruch at Crave to celebrate the accomplishment of (−)-PavB	More photos coming up...

2018

The group celebrated the start of Spring 2018 semester at G2	After 12 beers came a few rounds of tequila shots	Gan-Bei (not Kan-Pei)	Organic chemists know how to handle alcohols
The group met Nobel laureate Dr. Sir Fraser Stoddart	The group met Nobel laureate Dr. Sir Fraser Stoddart	The group met Nobel laureate Dr. Sir Fraser Stoddart	The Centennial Lecture by Dr. Sir Fraser Stoddart
The 36th National MedChem Symposium in Nashville, TN	Libo presenting his poster at the conference	Libo discussing with Dr. JoAnne Stubbe @ MIT	Libo hanging out with Dr. JoAnne Stubbe
Downtown Nashville	Visit to the Jack Daniel's Distillery that is 1.5 hours away	The water source of all the Jack Daniel's whiskey	Tasting of the Jack Daniel's whiskey
Yaoqiu visited Lanzhou University in Northwestern China (Lanzhou)	Poster of Yaoqiu's talk	Yaoqiu gaving his talk to the State Key Laboratory of Applied Org Chem	Yaoqiu with host Prof. Jianguo Fang of Lanzhou University
Yaoqiu gave a talk at Jinan Univ. in Southern China (Guangzhou)	Yaoqiu with host Prof. Qian Cai of Jinan University	Visitng collaborator Cai Liu's lab at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica	Visiting collaborator Dr. Jiang Zhou's lab at Peking University
			A celebration and welcome lunch at Tasty Kabob

2017

Suresh just arrived in the US from Pune, India	Prof. Hien Nguyen (Iowa State) giving a seminar at our department	Yaoqiu and Dr. Nguyen at the White Sand National Monument	The group hanging out in the patio of Fool's Gold after work
Same Chipotle; Different people	Group meeting and pizza lunch	Korean dinner night at Korean restaurant	Celebrating Cory's birthday at Tokyo House
Chinese dinner night at Sun Garden Chinese restaurant	Chinese dinner night at Sun Garden Chinese restaurant	Group outing at the White Sand National Monument	Racing to the football
Touch down!	Enjoying the white sand & blue sky	Cory and her first series of 11 cmpds waiting to go out for test	Prof. Kent Gates (Mizzou) giving a seminar at our departmen
Gelato time!	Celebrating the end of summer at Gufo Di Milano	Prof. Jin Wang (BCM) visiting the Zhu group @ UTEP	Prof. Jin Wang (BCM) giving a seminar at our departmen
Prof. Jin Wang (BCM) giving a seminar at our departmen	Prof. Jin Wang (BCM) having a discussion the Zhu group	The group celebrated Thanksgiving at Golden Corral	The group is enjoying a real snow on campus on Dec 7, 2017!
Suresh is giving a research presentation at a group meeting.	Nohemi is giving a literature presentation at a group meeting.	Group ski outing to Ski Apache Snow Resort in Ruidoso, NM.	Ski time!

2016

Post-doc Xiaodong just arrived at El Paso Airport from Beijing, China	Xiaodong's welcome dinner at the Sun Garden Chinese restaurant	Another welcome dinner for Xiaodong at Korean restaurant	Xiaodong practising cooking in his new apartment @ Terrace Hill
Welcome dinner for visiting scholar Dr. Xiuming Cao at Chilis	Post-doc Ming and family landed at ELP from Hilo, HI	Welcome dinner for Ming and family at Xiaodong's place	Yaoqiu cooked the dinner with sous chef Xiaodong
The group celebrated Chinese New Year with dumpling dinner	Dumpling master Dr. Cao in the house	Yummy! Ming's wife Hui approved the dumpling	Little Derek approved the dumpling as well
Ming, Xiaodong and Yaoqiu having beer in Geogeske after work	Ming and Xiaodong helped Yaoqiu settle down in his new home	The group hanged out again at Block - Table & Tap	and again at Rib Hut
Dr. Cao and her son in Yaoqiu's new house	One Thursday group lunch at Potbelly	Toasted sandwidges!	The group enjoyed The Scorpions concert at UTEP DonHaskins Center
Another Thursday group lunch at What-A-Burger	Another gathering in Geogeske after work	Good bar food at Geogeske	Another Thursday group lunch at Indian Palace
First time Xiaodong having Indian Food - he liked it!	Yaoqiu attended National MedChem Symposium back in Chicago	Yaoqiu attended Gordon Research Conference in Holderness, NH	Welcome dinner for rotation student Lei at Chilis
The group welcoming Dr. Jiang Zhou from Peking Univ. in Barmen	Dr. Jiang Zhou in front of the UTEP Chemistry Building	Dr. Jiang Zhou helping the group on calibrating the LC-MS/MS	Yulu's welcome dinner at Sun Garden Chinese restaurant
Rotation student Yulu's first meal in USA - roasted duck!	Another welcome lunch at Tokyo House	Young folks love buffet!	Young folks love buffet!
Farewell group photo for Xiaodong and Ming's depature	Yulu doing grocery shopping at nearby Albertsons supermarket	Rotation student Lei visiting Dr. Zhu's house	Labor Day dinner at Yaoqiu's home
Yulu is happily enjoying Dr. Zhu's fine cooking	Has eating water melon in Yaoqiu's house become a tradition?	Young folks love buffet! This time it is UTEP dinning - the Union!	Young folks love buffet! This time it is UTEP dinning - the Union!
Group lunch at Chipotle	A new Whole Foods supermarket 10-15 min drive away from UTEP	Sprouts supermarket in closeby Sunland Park Shopping Mall	Wan Jia Le Chinese supermarket - everything from live fish to soy source
Arirang Korean supermarket	Visiting Scholar Dr. Cao's last photo in the Zhu Lab	Farewell lunch with Dr. Cao in Mesa Street Grill	UTEP Miners basketball game vs UTSA Roadrunners
Miners win! 59-39

2015

New professor Yaoqiu in President Natalicio's home - Hoover House	We started to order lab equipments and supplies in Oct 2015	Yaoqiu attended ICCA-2015 in Galveston, TX	Our LC-MS/MS instrument just arrived!
Sudahkar, Mark and Yaoqiu having lunch at the Chuy's in the Fountains	Yaoqiu attended 2015 Welch Conference in Houston, TX	Yaoqiu visited Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX	Sudahkar frustrated by the bad bio cabinet base
Yaoqiu went back to Beijing to give a talk in China Agricultural University	Prospect student Yulu Ge and Qian Wang met Dr. Zhu in Beijing	Hot-pot in Beijing with Yulu Ge and Qian Wang!	Another seminar in Shanghai - East China Univ. of Science & Technology