Nathan J. Baird, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and the associate dean of College of Arts and Sciences. Most recently, he served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2023 through 2024.
Baird’s previous administrative experience includes serving as interim dean of the Misher College of Arts and Sciences and interim chair of the department of chemistry and biochemistry while at University of the Sciences. His administrative achievements include increased faculty support, pedagogical innovation and curricular design.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree at Wheaton College, Baird holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago and completed postdoctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
New paradigms in RNA biology are rapidly emerging from reports of pervasive transcription and RNA structure across genomes. Furthermore, decades of research demonstrate that RNA regulates many processes central to human health and disease. However, RNA remains a disproportionately under-explored target for drug discovery and basic chemical biology research. Progress in this area of biomedical research will require new interdisciplinary approaches at the forefront of chemistry and biology to identify and characterize RNA-small molecule interactions.
Work in Dr. Baird's lab employs a two-phase methodology. First, the team aims to develop new high-throughput screening assays for targeting structured RNAs with small molecules. These assays identify ligands that modulate RNA conformational changes. Second, they employ structural biology techniques to characterize RNA-ligand interactions, leading to the rational design of improved ligands. Iterations of this cross-discipline approach will result in advances toward novel therapeutic leads and synthetic biology tools.
