May 2026
Chris Vazquez and Rishav Chatterjee Pass Preliminary Examinations
May 16, 2026
Congratulations to Chris Vazquez and Rishav Chatterjee on passing their doctoral preliminary examinations.
Chris is developing a series of histone deacetylase 10 (HDAC10) inhibitors, and new tetrazolone scaffolds for HDAC11 inhibitors. Rishav’s research focuses on HDAC6 inhibitors and the total synthesis of himalensine A.
This milestone reflects their scientific progress and sustained effort. Congratulations, Chris and Rishav!
Chris is developing a series of histone deacetylase 10 (HDAC10) inhibitors, and new tetrazolone scaffolds for HDAC11 inhibitors. Rishav’s research focuses on HDAC6 inhibitors and the total synthesis of himalensine A.
This milestone reflects their scientific progress and sustained effort. Congratulations, Chris and Rishav!
CTRI award to test HDAC6 inhibitors in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
May 1, 2026
The group has been awarded a UIC Chancellor’s Translational Research Initiative (CTRI) award, with Duncan Wardrop as principal investigator, for “Testing HDAC6 Inhibitors for Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease using Patient-Specific iPSCs.”
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is the most common inherited disorder of the peripheral nerves, affecting roughly one person in 2,500. The nerves that carry signals between the spinal cord and the limbs degenerate slowly, so weakness and muscle wasting begin in the feet and lower legs and later reach the hands, together with loss of sensation and changes in the shape of the foot. It is rarely life-threatening, but it is progressive and disabling, and no treatment yet alters its course.
HDAC6 is an attractive target here because it strips acetyl groups from α-tubulin, a building block of the tracks along which cargo is carried up and down nerve axons. Inhibiting HDAC6 raises tubulin acetylation and restores that transport in laboratory models of the disease. The award supports testing the group’s HDAC6 inhibitors in nerve cells grown from patients’ own induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which carry the mutations responsible for their disease.
The work is a collaboration with Xue-Jun (June) Li, Michael A. Werckle Endowed Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the UIC College of Medicine Rockford, whose laboratory builds iPSC-based models of neurological disease. Mario Noboa and Rishav Chatterjee are carrying out the project.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is the most common inherited disorder of the peripheral nerves, affecting roughly one person in 2,500. The nerves that carry signals between the spinal cord and the limbs degenerate slowly, so weakness and muscle wasting begin in the feet and lower legs and later reach the hands, together with loss of sensation and changes in the shape of the foot. It is rarely life-threatening, but it is progressive and disabling, and no treatment yet alters its course.
HDAC6 is an attractive target here because it strips acetyl groups from α-tubulin, a building block of the tracks along which cargo is carried up and down nerve axons. Inhibiting HDAC6 raises tubulin acetylation and restores that transport in laboratory models of the disease. The award supports testing the group’s HDAC6 inhibitors in nerve cells grown from patients’ own induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which carry the mutations responsible for their disease.
The work is a collaboration with Xue-Jun (June) Li, Michael A. Werckle Endowed Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the UIC College of Medicine Rockford, whose laboratory builds iPSC-based models of neurological disease. Mario Noboa and Rishav Chatterjee are carrying out the project.