Marty Burke pioneered blocc chemistry. He is the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, founding Director of the Molecule Maker Lab, and a co-founder of the Molecule Maker Lab Institute. He also helped launch the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and served as its inaugural Associate Dean of Research.

Marty discovered chemistry that machines can do. His lab specifically pioneered blocc chemistry: iterative carbon-carbon bond formation with MIDA/TIDA boronates that is friendly to automation, AI, and non-specialists. His MIDA/TIDA boronate bloccs have been used by hundreds of labs worldwide to help identify many different types of pharmaceuticals, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, diagnostic probes, catalysts, anti-corrosive coatings, quantum dots, carbohydrate sensors, and a wide range of functional materials, collectively yielding >1000 publications including >300 patents.

In his own lab, Marty leveraged blocc chemistry to develop the field of molecular prosthetics yielding new drug candidates for cystic fibrosis, anemia, and neurodegenerative disorders, define the sterol sponge mechanism by which glycosylated polyene macrolide natural products kill eukaryotic cells which led to renal sparing antifungal candidates for treating invasive fungal infections, and to first achieve AI-guided closed-loop discovery in organic chemistry and thereby enable identification of general conditions for heteroaryl Suzuki-Miyaura coupling, top-in-class organic laser emitters and mechanistic insights underlying the stability of organophotovoltaic materials. Marty also partnered with computer scientists to create a new language for chemistry in which molecular tokens and his automation-friendly building blocks are synchronized, directly linking the digital and physical worlds for small molecule science.

Building on these advances, Marty (co)-founded multiple biotechnology companies, including REVOLUTION Medicines (Nasdaq: RVMD), Sfunga Therapeutics (now Elion Therapeutics), and cystetic Medicines. These companies have collectively advanced 7 drug candidates into clinical trials, including daraxonrasib/RMC-6236 – an oral direct RAS(ON) inhibitor now in advanced phase 3 clinical trials for patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma that received Breakthrough Designation and a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher from the U.S. FDA and SF001/EL219 – a renal sparing antifungal agent targeting invasive fungal infections that was well-tolerated in phase 1 clinical trials and received Qualified Infectious Disease Product and Fast Track designations from the U.S. FDA.

Marty is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and American Society for Clinical Investigation, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a winner of the ACS Cope Scholar Award, ACS Elias J. Corey Award in Organic Synthesis, Hirata Gold Medal, Mukaiyama Award, Presidential Medallion from the University of Illinois, and ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry. He has also been recognized many times as a Teacher Ranked as Excellent by the University of Illinois.