Sara E. S. Martin

• CHEM 111: General Chemistry I
• CHEM 112: General Chemistry II
• CHEM 211: Organic Chemistry I
• CHEM 212: Organic Chemistry II
• BCMB 401: Introduction to Independent Study

Research in the Martin lab uses organic synthesis to develop new reaction methods to make heterocycles that are relevant in medicinal chemistry and that feature in inhibitors of enzymes known as glycosyltransferases, which are important in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis and many other biological processes. Many antibiotics function by inhibiting bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, but bacteria are developing resistance to these and other antibiotics at increasingly rapid rates. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has become a global health crisis that may one day lead to a “post antibiotic era” where existing antibiotics may not be capable of halting even minor infections. New methods to make heterocycles can help inform designs for inhibitors that will help us better study how bacteria build their cell walls and how to halt bacterial growth.

• Samuel Carmel, BCMB, Synthesis of 7-Monosubstituted Coumarin Intermediates Using Various Bases
• Ellen Daugherty, CHEM, Synthesis of Solely 7-Substituted Quinolin-2(1H)-ones via Lewis Acid Catalysis
• Khally Minich, CHEM, Characterization of the Intermediate Species Towards the Synthesis of 7-Substituted Coumarin Derivatives
• Spencer Gabriel, BCMB, Characterization of Putative Small Molecule Inhibitors of MurG and Their Effectiveness in Growth Inhibition of Escherichia coli (DH5a), Pseudomonas frederikbergensis (36C6) and Pseudomonas chlororaphis (14B11)
• Jason Stewart, CHEM, Toward Demonstrating the Synthetic Utility of 7-substituted-quinolin-2(1H)-ones in Organic Synthesis
• Marisol Varela Ausec, CHEM, Synthesis of 7-Substituted Quinolinones from Meta-Substituted Anilines: Investigating Whether the Product Selectivity Increases with Steric Bulk of Aniline R-Groups in an Isoelectronic Series
• Aileen Yeo CHEM, Toward a More Efficient and Selective Synthesis of Exclusively 7-substituted Coumarins
• Patrick Wood (BCMB), Determining the Crystal Structure of The Staphylococcus Aureus MurG Enzyme (2023)
• Eliott Wright (CHEM),  Investigating the Effect of Steric Bulk of Anilines on the Synthesis of Quinolinones. (2023)
• Kyla Babics (BCMB), Investigating the effects of the Phone A STEM Professional Assignment on STEM students’ sense of belonging, career confidence, and career awareness (2021)
• Peter Greenwood (BCMB), Purification and Crystalization of MurG from S. aureus: Towards Characterizing the Structure of a Putative Antibiotic Target (2021)
• Coco (Kejun) Liu (BCMB) Deciphering the ‘Logic Puzzle’ of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine: Deciphering the ‘Logic Puzzle’ of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine: Investigating Cooperative Protective Effects of Artemisinin and Hyperoside Against Oxidative Damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (2021)
• Anna Schroeder (CHEM), Multi-Step Synthesis of Small Molecules as Potential Inhibitors for MurG (2021)
• Regan Szalay, CHEM, Synthesis of Potential Small-Molecule Inhibitors for MurG, a Glycosyltransferase Involved in Bacterial Cell Wall Biosynthesis(2020)
• Craig Deng, BCMB, Toxicity Analysis of Et-OSMI2 vs pseudomonas and E. coli(2020)
• Matthew Mahoney, BCMB, Organic Synthesis of Potential MurG Inhibitors: A Research Tool for Investigating Cell Wall Biosynthesis in Bacteria (2020)
• Leman Simpson, BCMB, Expression, Purification, and Crystallization of S. aureus MurG: Towards Structural Characterization of a Putative Antibiotic Target (2020)
• Robert Hunt (BCMB), Exploring Peptidoglycan Synthesis: Assessing the Viability of NagZ as a Potential Tool for Obtaining Lipid I (2020)
• Russell Boston, III, B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, May 2019, co-advised with P. Edmiston, “Save Our Masses from Starving: Development of a SOMS-Based Spatiotemporal Phytohormone Delivery System”
• Ian Mundy, B.A. in Chemistry, May 2019, “All Aboard! The Identification of Inhibitor Candidates for the Bacterial Enzyme MurG via Molecular Docking Simulations”
• Noelle Sadallah, B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, May 2019, “Facilitating Studies of Peptidoglycan Synthesis: Optimizing NagZ Production to Enable Access to Lipid”
• Rada Zunich, B.A. in Chemistry, May 2019, “Toward Inhibitors of MurG: Identifying Fragments that Could Bind to MurG as a Starting Point for Inhibitors of Bacterial Cell Wall Biosynthesis”

*Underline denotes Wooster students

• Varela Ausec, M.; Payne, M.K.; Stewart, J.R.; Wright, E.J.; Galando, O.M.; Martin, S.E.S.; “A Simple Route to 7-substituted Quinoline-2(1H)-ones from Meta-Substituted Anilines,” Results Chem. 2025, 2025, 14, 102089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rechem.2025.102089
• Itkonen, H.M.; Poulose, N.; Steele, R.E.; Martin, S.E.S; Levine, Z.G.; Duveau, D.Y.; Carelli, R.; Singh, R.; Urbanucci, A.; Loda, M.; Thomas, C.; Mills, I.G.; Walker, S., “Inhibition of O-GlcNAc Transferase Renders Prostate Cancer Cells Dependent on CDK9,” Mol. Cancer Res., 2020, 18, 1512.
• Tan, Z.-W.; Fei, G.; Paulo, J.A.; Bellaousov, S.; Martin S.E.S.; Duveau, D.Y.; Thomas C.J.; Gygi, S.P.; Boutz, P.L.; Walker, S. “O-GlcNAc regulates gene expression by controlling detained intron splicing,” Nucleic Acids Res. 2020, 48, 5656.
• Itkonen, H.M.; Urbanucci, A.; Martin. S.E.S.; Khan, A.; Mathelier, A.; Thiede, B.; Walker, S.; Mills, I.G., “High OGT Activity is Essential for MYC-driven Proliferation of Prostate Cancer Cells,” Theranostics 2019, 9, 2183.
• Martin, S.E.S.; Tan, Z.-W.; Itkonen, H.M.; Duveau, D.Y.; Paulo, J.A.; Janetzko, J.; Boutz, P.A.; Törk , L.; Moss, F.A.; Thomas, C.J.; Gygi, S.P.; Lazarus, M.B.; Walker, S., “Structure-based Evolution of Low Nanomolar O-GlcNAc Transferase Inhibitors,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 13542.
• Matano, L. ; Morris, H. ; Hesser, A. ; Martin, S.E.S.; Lee, W.; Owens, T.; Laney, E.; Villet, R.; Hooper, D.; Meredith, T.; Walker, S., “An Antibiotic that Inhibits the ATPase Activity of an ABC Transporter by Binding to a Remote Extracellular Site,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 10597.

Committees/activities outside of the College with scholarly and professional organizations projects with students

• Chair of the ACS Wooster Local Section (2025-present
• Secretary of the ACS Wooster Local Section (2022-2024)
• Organizing committee for Midwest chapter of Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry. EWOC is focused on mentorship and networking opportunities for women in organic chemistry, broadly defined. (2021-2025)

Committees/activities within the College

• NMR maintenance – Chemistry
• STEM Success Initiative Advisory Board – rep for Chemistry and BCMB
• Copeland Committee – Campus
• Human Subjects Research Committee – Campus
• Faculty Grievance Committee – Campus

• NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, 2014-2018
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NIH NRSA), 2016
• Elizabeth Dyer Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Delaware, 2012