Justin Du Bois

Dr. Du Bois is Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry and, by courtesy, Professor of Chemistry and Systems Biology at Stanford. He received his BS from the University of California Berkeley and his PhD from Caltech and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Du Bois has 20 years of experience in synthetic organic chemistry. His research has been supported by many federal and private grants.

A major research program in Dr. Du Bois’ laboratory is developing novel syntheses of molecules that block the action of voltage-gated sodium ion channels — in particular, structural analogues of the natural product, saxitoxin. Characterization of these analogues furthers the understanding of the neurophysiology of sodium channels and, ultimately, will serve as templates for new agents for diagnosing and treating patients suffering from pain and other sodium channel-mediated diseases.

Dr. Du Bois has consulted for several large pharmaceutical companies on the medicinal chemistry related to the development of novel drugs. His many awards and honors include the Cope Young Scholar Award (American Chemical Society), Corey Young Investigator Award (Pfizer Endowment Fund), Young Investigator Award (Tetrahedron), Mukaiyama Prize (Chemical Society of Japan), and Gunn University Fellowship (Stanford).