Trader Lab Associations:
        -Purdue Center for Cancer Research
        -Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery
        -Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience
        -PULSe Chemical Biology Training Group

PI: Darci J. Trader

Darci received her BS and MS in chemistry from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in 2006 and 2007, respectively. She then went on to pursue her doctoral studies at Indiana University under the direction of Prof. Erin E. Carlson. Here, she worked on developing a new chemoselective enrichment tagging protocol to discover natural products. This research resulted in a number of publications and is a methodology she plans on utilizing in her own laboratory. After obtaining her PhD in 2013, she joined The Scripps Research Institute in Prof. Tom Kodadek's lab. At TSRI she learned to generate HTS libraries and screen them for the desired biological activity. In her own lab, the generation of natural product libraries and synthetic libraries will be undertaken. These new libraries will then be screened for primary hits against proteins produced by HIV, Parkinson's disease, and cancer.    Additionally, students and postdocs in her lab will have the opportunity to develop new assays to explore interactions previously thought of as "undruggable."

Trader Laboratory PersonNel

Christine Muli

MCMP Graduate Student
​NIH F31-Fellow

B.S. Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Wenzhi Tian

MCMP Graduate Student

B.S. Sichuan University

  Marianne Maresh

Saayak Halder

    Andres Salazar

  Pulse Graduate Student

     Chemistry Graduate Student

    MCMP Graduate Student

         B.S. Wayne State University

B.S. University of Calcutta, India
​M.S. IIT Kanpur, India

 Universidad Nacional de Colombia

 Mackenzie Clement

Laboratory technician

B.S. Tennesse Tech University

Open positions

Graduate Students--> 2 open positions available!
Potential graduate students should visit the MCMP website for how to apply to the department. Current MCMP and PULSe graduate students should contact Prof Trader (dtrader@purdue.edu) directly to set up a meeting to discuss a rotation in the lab and potential projects.

Postdocs--> 1 open Position available
The Trader Lab is  seeking postdocs, with those who have experience in organic synthesis and molecular biology who are interested in transitioning these skills towards discovering novel therapeutics. They should contact Prof. Trader. Candidates should have completed their PhD training in chemistry, biochemistry, or medicinal chemistry. Please email Prof Trader (dtrader@purdue.edu) your CV, a personal research statement, and the contact information for your three references.

Undergraduates
The Trader Lab is looking for highly motivated undergraduate students who are interested in learning organic synthesis and can commit 10-15 hrs per week to research . a two semester commitment is required and priority is given to students in the second semester of their freshman year or first semester of sophomore year. Students should email Prof. Trader with their CV/resume and why they are interested in research.

Alumni
Dr. Rachel Coleman (Ph.D.) 2020- UAB Postdoc
Dr. Breanna Zerfas (Postdoc)- Dana Farber, Research Scientist
Nathan MacaTangay- undergraduate
Brant Hooggatt- Undergraduate
​Brice Wuthrich- undergraduate