Javier Read de Alaniz

Biography

Javier Read de Alaniz joined the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC, Santa Barbara in 2009. Born and raised in Las Vegas, New Mexico, he received his B.S. degree from Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado) in 1999 where he conducted undergraduate research under the direction of Professor William R. Bartlett. He obtained his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Tomislav Rovis at Colorado State University in 2006. His doctoral research focused on asymmetric catalysis. Javier then moved to California, where he worked in the area of total synthesis with Professor Larry E. Overman at the University of California, Irvine. During that time he was the recipient of the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Research

Our research group seeks creative, synthetic solutions to problems at the interface of chemistry and material science. Just as traditional organic chemist invents new reaction methodologies to access complex biologically active molecules, we develop new methods for the construction of stimuli-responsive materials and efficient approaches to chemical reaction for applications in synthesis of both small molecule and macromolecules. Our highly interdisciplinary work can be broken down into two key research areas: (1) development and application of a stimuli-responsive materials, (2) synthesis of well-defined and functional polymers and biomaterials.