Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Emory University
Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Tokyo Institute of Technology 

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering | Georgia Institute of Technology 
B.S.E., Chemical Engineering | University of South Carolina 

His laboratory focuses on two synergistic directions: (1) computational drug discovery combining structure-based design with deep learning to identify and optimize therapeutic candidates, and (2) AI-assisted diagnostic systems using Raman spectroscopy and real-time algorithms for surgical guidance and tumor classification. This integrated approach trains students in both computational methods and translational validation, preparing them for careers spanning academia, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries. Professor Butch's research emphasizes collaboration at the cancer-immunity interface, with active partnerships across medicinal chemistry, immunology, and clinical departments, supported by ongoing industry collaborations and translational funding.

成果：

Professor Chris Butch develops AI-accelerated biomedical systems that bridge computational molecular design with clinical translation. His research program integrates physics-based modeling with machine learning to accelerate early-stage therapeutic and diagnostic development. Notable achievements include novel CXCR4 antagonists advancing toward clinical evaluation and pemefolacianine, a folate receptor-targeted imaging agent currently in Phase II clinical trials.

发表：

2025

Li W, Dong J, Cheng X, Han D, Nie S, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Rapid, in vivo detection and identification of pathogens in soybean plants using portable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy." Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 127386. 

Wang Z, Dai B, Zhang J, Wu Y, Li Y, Cao Y, You Q, Wang W, Singhal S, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Dual-tracer fluorescence imaging and surgical resection of metastatic lymph nodes in breast cancer: sensitivity, specificity, and first-in-human results." Med-X, 3(1), 24. 

Li Y, Guissi NEI, Dong J, Singhal S, Dai B, Butch C, Cai H, Wang Y. "Fluorescence Discrimination of Cancer from Inflammation by Selective Targeting Folate Receptor α." Chemical & Biomedical Imaging. 

Fang T, Li L, Muhseen ZT, Lane LA, Cai H, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Strategic Timing of Gene Silencing: Cellular Kinetics-Based Administration of siRNA for Optimized Photothermal Cancer Treatment." Advanced Science, e10802. 

Zhou P, Sun Q, Huang L, Xia Y, Wang J, Mo D, Butch CJ, Li C, Zhang L. "Dual-Targeting Mn@CeO2 Nanozyme-Modified Probiotic Hydrogel Microspheres Reshape Gut Homeostasis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease." ACS Nano, 19(35), 31619-31642. 

Yuan S, Hu D, Gao D, Butch CJ, Wang Y, Zheng H, Sheng Z. "Recent advances of engineering cell membranes for nanomedicine delivery across the blood-brain barrier." Journal of Nanobiotechnology, 23(1), 493. 

Wang Z, Dai B, Li Y, Cao Y, Wang D, Liu F, Li Z, Cai H, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Signal-to-Noise Ratio Imaging and Real-Time Sharpening of Tumor Boundaries for Image-Guided Cancer Surgery." Analytical Chemistry, 97(15), 8516-8527. 

Fang T, Li L, Wang S, Li J, Nie S, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Therapeutic Adoptive Cell Transfer (ACT) Vaccine Patch: Bioengineered Tumor Cells Prime Macrophage Immunoregulation to Prevent Postsurgical Tumor Recurrence and Metastasis." Advanced Functional Materials, e10281. 

2024

Miao Y, Liu W, Alsallameh SMS, Albekairi NA, Muhseen ZT, Butch CJ. "Unraveling Cordia myxa's anti-malarial potential: integrative insights from network pharmacology, molecular modeling, and machine learning." BMC Infectious Diseases, 24(1), 1180.

Zhang Y, Yang S, Yang Y, Ren JC, Butch CJ, Wang L, Liu W. "Rapid Prediction of Energy Level Alignment and Conductance of Single-Molecule Junctions Through Intramolecular Dipole Moment." Advanced Functional Materials, 34(40), 2403836. 

Li L, Mohammed AH, Auda NA, Alsallameh SMS, Albekairi NA, Butch CJ. "Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Analysis Reveal Insights into the Molecular Mechanism of Cordia myxa." Biology, 13(5), 315. 

Dai B, Han D, Miao Y, Zhou Y, Hajiarbabi M, Wang Y, Butch CJ, Cai H. "Accurate categorization and rapid pathological diagnosis correction with Micro-Raman technique in human lung adenocarcinoma infiltration level." Translational Lung Cancer Research, 13(4), 885. 

Liu K, You Q, Jawed R, Han D, Miao Y, Gu X, Dong J, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Purine-Doped g-C3N4-Modified Fabrics for Personal Protective Masks with Rapid and Sustained Antibacterial Activity." ACS Applied Bio Materials, 7(5), 2911-2923. 

Li L, Guissi NEI, Peng Y, Nie S, Cai H, Butch CJ, Wang Y. "Butterfly oscillation of an ICG dimer enables ultra-high photothermal conversion efficiency." Cell Reports Physical Science, 5(1). 

Peng Y, Li Y, Li L, Xie M, Wang Y, Butch CJ. "Coating influence on inner shell water exchange: An underinvestigated major contributor to SPIONs relaxation properties." Nanomedicine: NBM, 54, 102713. 

Sanden SA, Butch CJ, Bartlett S, Virgo N, Sekine Y, McGlynn SE. "Rapid hydrolysis rates of thio-and phosphate esters constrain the origin of metabolism to cool, acidic to neutral environments." iScience, 27(11). 

2023

Xiong Y, Wang Y, Wang Y, Li C, Yusong P, Wu J, Wang Y, Gu L, Butch CJ. "Improving drug discovery with a hybrid deep generative model using reinforcement learning trained on a Bayesian docking approximation." Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, 37(11), 507-517. 

Xie D, Li Y, Shi J, Zhu YP, Wang Y, Butch CJ, Wang Z. "A novel near-infrared EGFR targeting probe for metastatic lymph node imaging in preclinical mouse models." Journal of Nanobiotechnology, 21(1), 342. 

Dentmon ZW, Butch CJ, Gold HB, Liotta DC. "Synthesis and Antiviral Evaluation of 2', 3'-C-Disubstituted Nucleoside Analogue ProTides to Test a Conformational Model of Potency Against Hepatitis C." Synlett, 34(13), 1607-1615. 

Ren JC, Zhou J, Butch CJ, Ding Z, Li S, Zhao Y, Liu W. "Predicting single-phase solid solutions in as-sputtered high entropy alloys: High-throughput screening with machine-learning model." Journal of Materials Science & Technology, 138, 70-79. 

2022

Wang Y, Xiong Y, Garcia EAL, Wang Y, Butch CJ. "Drug chemical space as a guide for new herbicide development: a cheminformatic analysis." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 70(31), 9625-9636. 

Naman ZT, Kadhim S, Al-Isawi ZJK, Butch CJ, Muhseen ZT. "Computational Investigations of traditional Chinese medicinal compounds against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 to rescue the host immune system." Pharmaceuticals, 15(6), 741. 

Li J, Su G, Yang S, Zhang X, Ren JC, Butch CJ, Wang H, Liu W. "Effect of Single-Atom Defects on Metal Surfaces on Porphycene Tautomerization." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 126(10), 4871-4878. 

Li Y, You Q, Wang Z, Cao Y, Butch CJ, Guissi NEI, Cai H, Wang Y, Lu Q. "A study on setting standards for near-infrared fluorescence-image guided surgery (NIRFGS) time lapse monitoring based on preoperative liver function assessment." Annals of Translational Medicine, 10(2), 96. 

2021

Cao Y, Wang P, Wang Z, Zhang W, Lu Q, Butch CJ, Guissi NEI, You Q. "A pilot study of near-infrared fluorescence guided surgery for primary tumor localization and lymph node mapping in colorectal cancer." Annals of Translational Medicine, 9(16), 1342. 

Butch CJ, Meringer M, Gagnon JS, Cleaves HJ. "Open questions in understanding life's origins." Communications Chemistry, 4(1), 11. 

2020 and Earlier

Xie M, Wang Z, Lu Q, Nie S, Butch CJ, Wang Y, Dai B. "Ultracompact Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with a Monolayer Coating of Succinylated Heparin: A New Class of Renal-Clearable and Nontoxic T1 Agents." ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(48), 53994-54004. 

Liu J, Ren JC, Shen T, Liu X, Butch CJ, Li S, Liu W. "Asymmetric Schottky contacts in van der Waals metal-semiconductor-metal structures based on two-dimensional Janus materials." Research. 

Yang S, Li S, Ren JC, Butch CJ. Liu W. "Reversible control of spintronic properties of ferromagnetic metal/organic interfaces through selective molecular switching." Chemistry of Materials, 32(22), 9609-9615. 

Zhao S, Li Y, Liu Q, Li S, Cheng Y, Cheng C, Sun Z, Du Y, Butch CJ. "An Orally Administered CeO2@Montmorillonite Nanozyme Targets Inflammation for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Therapy." Advanced Functional Materials, 30(45), 2004692. 

Brovarone AV, Butch CJ, Ciappa A, Cleaves HJ, Elmaleh A, Faccenda M. "Let there be water: How hydration/dehydration reactions accompany key Earth and life processes." American Mineralogist, 105(8), 1152-1160. 

Liu Y, Cheng Y, Zhang H, Zhou M, Yu Y, Lin S, Jiang B, Zhao X, Miao L, Butch CJ. "Integrated cascade nanozyme catalyzes in vivo ROS scavenging for anti-inflammatory therapy." Science Advances, 6(29), eabb2695. 

Yang S, Li S, Zhang GX, Filimonov SN, Butch CJ, Ren JC, Liu W. "Surface strain-induced collective switching of ensembles of molecules on metal surfaces." The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11(6), 2277-2283. 

Li J, Yang S, Ren JC, Su G, Li S, Butch CJ, Ding Z, Liu W. "Deep molecular orbital driven high-temperature hydrogen tautomerization switching." The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 10(21), 6755-6761. 

He X, Liu Y, Butch CJ, Lee BR, Guo F, Wu J, Wang Z, Lu Q, Jeong JH. "One-Pot Exfoliation of Graphitic C3N4 Quantum Dots for Blue QLEDs by Methylamine Intercalation." Small, 15(44), 1902735. 

Cleaves HJ, Butch C, Burger PB, Goodwin J, Meringer M. "One among millions: The chemical space of nucleic acid-like molecules." Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 59(10), 4266-4277. 

Ilardo M, Bose R, Meringer M, Rasulev B, Grefenstette N, Stephenson J, Butch CJ. "Adaptive properties of the genetically encoded amino acid alphabet are inherited from its subsets." Scientific Reports, 9(1), 12468. 

Dai B, Wu X, Butch CJ, Wang J, Wang Z, Wang Y, Nie S, Lu Q, Wang Y. "Encapsulating maytansinoid in pH-sensitive nanocarriers: The importance of using extremely potent cytotoxic agents and fast release for nanomedicine." Nano Research, 12(8), 1959-1966. 

Su G, Yang S, Li S, Butch CJ, Filimonov SN, Ren JC, Liu W. "Switchable Schottky contacts: simultaneously enhanced output current and reduced leakage current." Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(4), 1628-1635. 

Xie M, Liu S, Butch CJ, Liu S, Wang Z, Wang J, Zhang X, Nie S, Lu Q. "Succinylated heparin monolayer coating vastly increases superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle T2 proton relaxivity." Nanoscale, 11(27), 12905-12914. 

Gibb AJ, Ogden KK, McDaniel MJ, Vance KM, Kell SA, Butch C, Burger P. "A structurally derived model of subunit-dependent NMDA receptor function." The Journal of Physiology, 596(17), 4057-4089. 

Nguyen HH, Kim MB, Wilson RJ, Butch CJ, Kuo KM, Miller EJ. "Design, synthesis, and pharmacological evaluation of second-generation tetrahydroisoquinoline-based CXCR4 antagonists with favorable ADME properties." Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 61(16), 7168-7188. 

Kaiser TM, Burger PB, Butch CJ, Pelly SC, Liotta DC. "A machine learning approach for predicting HIV reverse transcriptase mutation susceptibility of biologically active compounds." Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 58(8), 1544-1552. 

Chandru K, Guttenberg N, Giri C, Hongo Y, Butch C, Mamajanov I. "Simple prebiotic synthesis of high diversity dynamic combinatorial polyester libraries." Communications Chemistry, 1(1), 30. 

Strong KL, Epplin MP, Bacsa J, Butch CJ, Burger PB, Menaldino DS. "The structure-activity relationship of a tetrahydroisoquinoline class of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor modulators." Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 60(13), 5556-5585 (2017). 

Guttenberg N, Virgo N, Butch C, Packard N. "Selection first path to the origin of life." arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.05831 (2017). 

Mohammed FS, Chen K, Mojica M, Conley M, Napoline JW, Butch C. "A plausible prebiotic origin of glyoxylate: nonenzymatic transamination reactions of glycine with formaldehyde." Synlett, 28(01), 93-97 (2017). 

Mohammed FS, Chen K, Mojica M, Conley M, Napoline JW, Butch C. "A plausible prebiotic origin of glyoxylate: nonenzymatic transamination reactions of glycine with formaldehyde." Synlett, 28(01), 93-97 (2017). 

Chandru K, Gilbert A, Butch C, Aono M, Cleaves HJ. "The abiotic chemistry of thiolated acetate derivatives and the origin of life." Scientific Reports 6(1), 29883 (2016). 

Butch CJ, Wang J, Gu J, Vindas R, Crowe J, Pollet P, Gelbaum L. "pH-controlled reaction divergence of decarboxylation versus fragmentation in reactions of dihydroxyfumarate with glyoxylate and formaldehyde." Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, 29(7), 352-360 (2016). 

Scharf C, Virgo N, Cleaves HJ, Aono M, Aubert-Kato N, Aydinoglu A, Butch C. "A strategy for origins of life research." Astrobiology, 15(12), 1031-1042 (2015). 

Butch C, Cope ED, Pollet P, Gelbaum L, Krishnamurthy R, Liotta CL. "Production of tartrates by cyanide-mediated dimerization of glyoxylate: A potential abiotic pathway to the citric acid cycle." Journal of the American Chemical Society, 135(36), 13440-13445 (2013).