About

Interests

Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, Organic Chemistry, Bio-Organic Chemistry, Biophysical Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Synthesis

Education

• BS, University of Missouri, 1996
• PhD, Washington University School of Medicine, 2002
• NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 2002-2006

Tochtrop Research Group Site »

Research Statement

Research in our lab centers on the chemistry and biology of lipids. Our central interests revolve around the identification of novel small molecules, and careful investigations into the chemistry and physiology of known molecules. From a training point of view, our work spans from pure synthetic organic chemistry to animal biology in disease models, and students in the laboratory have projects involving: target oriented synthesis, diversity oriented synthesis, protein biochemistry, metabolomics, and cell signaling. Our laboratory specializes in organic synthesis and protein biochemistry and we have developed strong collaborative relationships with other research groups at CWRU School of Medicine, and the Cleveland Clinic.

We are generally interested in two physiologic processes that are primarily driven by an exquisite network of small molecules:

• Retinoid Metabolism and Signaling in Diseases of the Eye
• The Linkage Between Oxidative Stress Pathways and Lipid Peroxidation
• The Role of the Fatty Acid Binding Protein Family in Lipid Signaling

Selected Publications

• Bassetto M, Li B, Chen X, Zhang J, Hu Y, Zaluski J, Brumit L, Willis P, Grun F, Palczewski K, Kiser P, Tochtrop G. Light-Activated RPE65 Inhibitors Enable On-Demand Visual Cycle Control. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026 May 19; ASAP. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c02962 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c02962
• Zhang J, Hołubowicz R, Smidak R, Hu Y, Du SW, Felgner JH, Palczewska G, Rodrigues Menezes C, Risaliti E, Dong Z, Ma X, Shayegan MH, Chen PZ, Xing L, Hołubowicz M, Li B, Liu DR, Felgner PL, Tochtrop GP, Palczewski K. A combinatorial synthetic strategy for developing genome-editing protein-delivery agents targeting mouse retina. Nat Commun. 2026 Feb
  7;17(1) PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12992809.
• Bassetto M, Hu Y, Li B, Chen X, Saraswat V, Damacio F, Smidak R, Palczewski K, Tochtrop GP, Kiser PD. Rationally Designed, Short-Acting RPE65 Inhibitors for Visual Cycle-Associated Retinopathies. J Med Chem. 2025 Aug 28;68(16):17638-17652. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12409883.
• Zaluski J, Bassetto M, Kiser PD, Tochtrop GP. Advances and therapeutic opportunities in visual cycle modulation. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2025 May;106:101360. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12147667.
• Shi C, Eskandari R, Zhang J, Zhang G, Li L, Hawkins D, Zhu X, Tochtrop GP. The unique reactivity of EKODE lipid peroxidation products allows in vivo detection of inflammation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Feb 11;122(6):e2415039122.
  PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11831221.
• Bassetto M, Zaluski J, Li B, Zhang J, Badiee M, Kiser PD, Tochtrop GP. Tuning the Metabolic Stability of Visual Cycle Modulators through Modification of an RPE65 Recognition Motif. J Med Chem. 2023 Jun 22;66(12):8140-8158. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10824489.
• Li B, Hu Y, Tochtrop GP. An Acid-Controlled Method for the Regioselective Functionalization of Anilines over Aliphatic Amines. Chemistry. 2023 Oct 23;29(59):e202301336. PubMed PMID: 37527973.
• Li B, Tochtrop GP. Rapid Access to γ-Amino-α-aryl Alcohol Scaffolds via an Enamine-Based Heck Coupling. J Org Chem. 2022 Mar 4;87(5):3851-3855. PubMed PMID: 35175038.
• Eskandari R, Hess JP, Tochtrop GP. Synthesis of α,β-unsaturated epoxy ketones utilizing a bifunctional sulfonium/phosphonium ylide. Chem Commun (Camb). 2021 Jul 20;57(58):7136-7139. PubMed PMID: 34180477.

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