BIOGRAPHY

David Ryffel was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He then moved to Providence, Rhode Island to attend Brown University. There, he performed chemistry research with Professor Amit Basu and received his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 2019. Then, he travelled to the University of Illinois to study under Professor David Sarlah. In the Sarlah group, David's research centered on the total synthesis of bioactive natural products. After graduating from UIUC, David moved south to Houston where he is working under Professor Hans Renata as a postdoctoral researcher and member of the Rice Academy of Fellows. His postdoctoral work hopes to fuse biocatalysis with chemical synthesis to discover new antifungal medicines. In his free time, David likes to listen to emo rock music, do crossword puzzles, watch cycling, and hang out with his cat Asparagus Jane.