László Kürti

László Kürti was born and raised in Hungary. He received his Diploma from Lajos Kossuth University (now University of Debrecen) where he conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Sándor Antus focusing on the total synthesis of benzofuranoid neolignans. Subsequently he received his Master of Science degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia, working with Professor Michael Harmata on inter- and intramolecular [4+3]-cycloadditions of halogen-substituted oxoallylic cations, and his Ph.D. degree (2006) in synthetic organic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Amos B. Smith III at the University of Pennsylvania where he developed a new method for the construction of highly substituted and strained indoles that was applied in the synthetic studies toward the construction of the complex indole diterpenoid natural products, nodulisporic acids A and B.

While still in graduate school, he authored the now popular textbook/reference book "Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis" with Barbara Czakó that is now used in dozens of academic institutions and research laboratories worldwide.

Since 2006 László has been a Damon Runyon Cancer Fellow in the group of Professor E.J. Corey at Harvard University where he is working on the development of potent antiangiogenic agents inspired by the structure of Cortistatin A. In 2007 he co-authored the book "Molecules and Medicine" with Professor E.J. Corey and Dr. Barbara Czakó. In February 2008, the Professional and Scholarly Division of the American Association of Publishers designated Molecules and Medicine “Best of Physical Sciences and Mathematics”. At the beginning of 2009 László and Prof. Corey began working on “Enantioselective Chemical Synthesis”. The book has been published on October 1, 2010 by Direct Book Publishing.

In September 2010, László joined the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas Tx as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry.

Besides doing wet chemistry in the lab and writing textbooks/reference books, in his free time László travels all over the world and enjoys learning about other cultures and people. So far he has visited 25 countries on five continents and 24 states in the US.