Rachel Slack, Ph.D.

Research Interests

Rachel D. Slack received her B.A. from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA in 2008. Next, she attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and under the mentorship of Professor Gary H. Posner, Rachel studied the rational design and synthesis of novel, artemisinin-derived trioxanes for the treatment of malaria. During her time as a Ph.D. candidate, she also explored the synthesis and the seed germination-promoting activity of pyrone Michael acceptors, the synthesis of antiproliferative, low calcemic vitamin D3 derivatives, and developed a method for the highly stereocontrolled and regiocontrolled syntheses of polyoxygenated [2.2.2]oxabicyclic synthons. In 2013, she received her Ph.D. in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry. Rachel joined the Medicinal Chemistry Section of the Molecular Targets and Medications Discovery Branch as an IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Amy H. Newman in 2013. Her research focuses on the design and synthesis of small molecules that selectively target the dopamine D3 receptor. She hopes to use these small molecules as tools to probe and explore the biological mechanisms underlying drug abuse and addiction.

Publications