On November 13, 2025, the Chemistry Department hosted Dr. Ben Cravatt as the Shaomeng Wang and Ju-Yun Li Distinguished Lecturer as part of the Frontiers in Chemistry lecture series. Dr. Cravatt’s talk, “Activity-Based Protein Profiling – Target and Ligand Discovery on a Global Scale,” described the application of ABPP as a chemical proteomic technology that can generate covalent small molecular interaction maps of human cells and how this information can advance the discovery of chemical probes and drug candidates for disease-relevant proteins.

The lecture was followed up by a banquet in the Hovorka Atrium, provided by Bon Appetit. Here, Chemistry students and faculty had the opportunity to mingle and speak more with Dr. Cravatt on ABPP.

Dr. Cravatt is Professor and Norton B. Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. His research group is interested in developing chemical proteomic technologies that enable protein and drug discovery on a global scale and applying these methods to characterize biochemical pathways that play important roles in human physiology and disease. Dr. Cravatt obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History. He then received a Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 1996. Professor Cravatt joined the faculty at TSRI in 1997. Dr. Cravatt is co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including Activx Biosciences, Abide Therapeutics, Vividion Therapeutics, and Belharra Therapeutics. Dr. Cravatt’s honors include the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, the ASBMB Merck Award, AACR Award for Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the Heinrich Wieland Prize, the Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, and memberships in the National Academies of Inventors, Medicine, and Sciences.