Erika Yu

I joined ASDRP in the summer of 2021 and began research in the Njoo lab. The first project I worked on was the synthesis of rivastigmine, an FDA-approved drug for treating Alzheimer's Disease. Working with my fellow researchers, we identified several alternative conditions that avoided the use of pyrophoric materials. Additionally, we synthesized analogs of rivastigmine, compounds that are structurally similar to the drug but may have different biological capabilities. We did computational modeling and ran enzyme assays on all compounds, the results of which are reported in our paper: https://emerginginvestigators.org/articles/modular-mimics-of-neuroactive-alkaloids-design-synthesis-and-cholinesterase-inhibitory-activity-of-rivastigmine-analogs. Currently, I am utilizing NMR spectroscopy to study cholinesterase enzyme behavior, enzymes of interest for Alzheimer's, to help us better understand the results of our previous study.