Sara Mata received her B.S. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico, during her junior year she did a summer internship at BYU working for Dr. Steven Owen researching pharmaceutical compounds found in plants. After finishing her B.S. she worked as a med-lab technician in a hospital and in the training department of Schaeffler group in Mexico. She later earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Brigham Young University under the direction of Dr. Paul B. Savage. Her graduate research focused on the design and synthesis of TLR2 and TLR6 heterodimer ligands, a triply functionalized α-GalCer derivative for identifying proteins involved in glycolipid trafficking, and the disaccharide of Staphylococcus aureus CP8 Towards a self-adjuvanting vaccine.
Sara taught organic chemistry at Simpson College, and found herself passionate about sharing her knowledge and helping students success in life. She is very excited to join the chemistry department here at IU.
Sara is interested about the everyday life application of chemistry as well as finding and modifying natural pharmaceutical compounds