University of Virginia
College of Arts & Sciences
The Tepe Lab
Our Research
The Tepe Lab moved to the University of Virginia in January 2024, from Michigan State University. Our group is made up of highly skilled and diverse people from all over the world. We specialize in synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology. The group’s focus is on studying protein degradation systems and developing small molecules to alter them. We also create novel ways to synthesize natural products and their derivatives as possible therapeutic leads. Our overall goal is to develop new therapies for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
Recent Publications
Chemical Induction of MYC Protein Degradation via MYC–MAX Disruption and 20S Proteasome Activation
ACS Chemical Biology
Miracle O. Olatunde and Dr. Jetze J. Tepe
Recent Advancements in 20S Proteasome Enhancement: Degradation of Undruggable Targets
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Sydney G. Cobb and Jetze J. Tepe
Tungsten-Enabled Diels–Alder Cycloaddition and Cycloreversion of Arenes and Alkynes: Divergent Synthesis of Highly Functionalized Barrelenes and Arenes
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Jeremy M. Block, Evan Savelson, Alvin Q. Meng, Megan N. Ericson, Ishaan U. Patel, Diane A. Dickie, Jetze J. Tepe, and W. Dean Harman
Latest News & Events
December 29, 2026
Tepe Group Meetings Fall 2026 are (main group meetings) Tuesdays 10AM-12PM and (mini meetings) Wednesdays 3PM-5PM both in PLSB 300. Incoming graduate students are welcome and encouraged to attend if your schedule permits!
October 6, 2026
Happy birthday Miracle!
October 6, 2026
Tepe lab trivia winners - Her Majesties Linh and Sky!
September 29, 2026
The Tepe lab will not have main group meeting on Tuesday, September 30th. See everyone the following week (or at Minis on Wednesday)!
September 23, 2026
Happy birthday Kayla!
September 17, 2026
Happy birthday Linh!
September 8, 2026
Happy birthday Adam!
August 21, 2026
Happy birthday to two of our favorite Leos - Allison and Dr. Tepe!
August 5, 2026
Happy birthday Konika!
July 22, 2026
Happy Birthday Sky!
July 11, 2026
Miracle was selected to attend the ACS Green and Sustainable Chemistry Summer School at the University of Vermont. We're so proud of Miracle and excited to implement the things she's learned into our lab!
June 25, 2026
Miracle got to attend and give a great poster presentation at the 2026 Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry (EWOC) conference hosted at Genentech!
June 21, 2026
Congratulations to Miracle for being chosen as a recipient of UVA Cancer Center's Trainee Fellowship 2026! We're so excited to see the amazing work she will do on this new project!
June 19, 2026
Miracle published a paper in ACS Chemical Biology! Check out her work on "Chemical Induction of MYC Protein Degradation via MYC–MAX Disruption and 20S Proteasome Activation"!
June 15, 2026
Linh attended the FRET, FILM & Metabolic Imaging Microscopy workshop at the W.M. Keck Center for cellular imaging at UVA and received training in FRET, FILM, and metabolic imaging microscopy and data analysis! Plus she took some cool images on the microscope!
