Ben Shen
Dr. Ben Shen received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Hangzhou University, Masters from the Chinese Academy of Science where he studied under Professor Chutsin Liu in 1984. Ben also received a Ph.D in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry from Oregon State University under Professor Steven J. Gould, and carried out his postdoctoral research in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison under Professor C.Richard Hutchinson (1991-1995). Following his postdoctoral research, Ben served as Assistant Professor in Department of Chemistry at University of California, Davis (1995-2001), an Associate Professor University of Wisconsin-Madison (2001-2003), and later became the Principal Investigator of the NCI UW National Cooperative Drug Discovery Group at University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005-2010) prior to joining The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 2011. Today, Ben Shen serves as a professor in the department of Molecular Medicine and in Worm Institute for Research and Medicine (WIRM). He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Director of Natural Products Discovery Center at TSRI. Current research in the Shen Lab focuses on natural product biosynthesis, bioengineering, and drug discovery. The Shen lab has authored over 280 publications and published several patents. On top of begin a great professor and mentor, Ben has also received several prestigious awards such as Promega Biotechnology Research Award (2015), Charles Thom Award, Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (2018).