K. C. Nicolaou is Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego and is Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and holds the Skaggs Professorship of Chemical Biology and the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry at The Scripps Research Insitute. He studied chemistry at the University of London, and finished his Ph.D. in 1972 with Professors Sondheimer and Garratt. After his postdocs at Columbia University with Professor Katz and Harvard University with Professor Corey, he joined the University of Pennsylvania, before accepting appointments at the University of California in San Diego. His impact on chemistry flows from his works in chemical synthesis and chemical biology… described in over 550 publications and 55 patents, and he received numereous awards from all over the world. His book "Classics in Total Synthesis I and II" are long- and bestsellers as well as undispensible in view of chemical education in the strategy of organic synthesis. #60;br#62;#60;br#62;Jason S. Chen received his AB and AM degrees in 2001 from Harvard University, where he performed research in the group of Professor Matthew D. Shair. He then joined Enanta Pharmaceuticals (USA) as a medicinal chemist studying novel cyclosporine analogs. He joined K.C. Nicolaou#8242;s group at the Scripps Research Institute in 2003. In 2008, he completed his Ph.D. on the total synthesis and biological evaluation of uncialamycin. He is working currently as a research associate in K.C. Nicolaous laboratory.