Morimoto Lab at Notre Dame

We are a highly interdisciplinary research group working at the intersection of synthetic chemistry, chemical biology, and immunology. Our lab is located in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department at the University of Notre Dame.

New paradigms to reprogram our immune system

Our research centers around chemical immunology, where we develop chemical approaches to discover and target immune-regulating mechanisms.

A key area of investigation involves glycans—sugars that cover the surface of every cell and play a critical role in immune responses by interacting with lectins (glycan-binding proteins). Our group aims to characterize these interactions to develop glycan-based small molecules, immunotherapies, and diagnostics.

Another area of focus involves using chemically induced proximity to restore the activity of dysfunctional tumor-associated immune cells. We design and synthesize small molecules and biologics that can precisely modulate protein-protein interactions (PPIs) within the tumor microenvironment with minimal systemic toxicity.

Recent Group News

June, 2026 - Brandon was awarded an NIH T32 Predoctoral Fellowship as part of the Chemistry-Biochemistry Biology Interface (CBBI) Program at Notre Dame to support his work in developing chemical probes for immune-immune interfaces. Well done!

June, 2026 - Mari has been honored as the Recognition Prize Winner of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Award, presented by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

April, 2026 - The lab was awarded a research grant from Our Daughters Foundation! This award will significantly advance the development of novel immunotherapeutic strategies for endometriosis. We are very grateful for the support.

April, 2026 - Mari received the inaugural BIPH Early Career Investigator Award! We are grateful for the support and recognition for our work in developing precision molecular tools to target and restore immune function.

March, 2026 - New preprint! We describe a click chemistry platform that uses simple, commercially available reagents to convert standard antibodies into powerful tools for extracellular protein degradation. Congrats to Madeline for her contributions!

March, 2026 - Congratulations to Katherine for receiving both the Barry Goldwater scholarship and the Baten Family Summer Fellowship! Looking forward to a very productive year.

Join our team.