About

James Lee is an assistant professor in the Early Childhood Program within the Department of Special Education at The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on capacity building of marginalized families of young autistic children by leveraging implementation science, cultural adaptation, and intervention development. Prior to his current position, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Seattle Children's Autism Center. His active research lines include developing and testing implementation toolkits to improve evidence-based practice delivery among marginalized families, identifying determinants and strategies to enhance the use of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions among clinicians, and providing preemptive interventions for caregivers on waitlists for autism diagnosis. He also explores support needs of diverse families with minimally verbal autistic children, develops wearable devices to measure parental stress, and culturally adapts global programs such as the WHO-Caregiver Skills Training. Dr. Lee's work has been funded by multiple organizations including the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. He holds a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas. His academic and professional contributions include editorial roles in prominent journals and leadership positions in international autism research organizations.

Research topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Nanotechnology
• Electronic engineering
• Materials science
• Computer Science
• Optoelectronics
• Biochemistry
• Virology
• Pharmacology
• Physical chemistry
• Engineering
• Medicine
• Biology
• Computer architecture
• Internal medicine
• Composite material
• Chemistry
• Chemical physics
• Neuroscience
• Condensed matter physics
• Biotechnology

Selected publications

• Discovery of Nirmatrelvir (PF-07321332): A Potent, Orally Active Inhibitor of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) Main Protease

  Journal of Medicinal Chemistry · 2025-02-28 · 20 citations

  article

  In early 2020, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) infections leading to COVID-19 disease reached a global level leading to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a pandemic. Scientists around the globe rapidly responded to try and discover novel therapeutics and repurpose extant drugs to treat the disease. This work describes the preclinical discovery efforts that led to the invention of PF-07321332 (nirmatrelvir, 14), a potent and orally active inhibitor of the SARS CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) enzyme. At the outset we focused on modifying PF-00835231 (1) discovered in 2004 as a potent inhibitor of the SARS CoV-1 Mpro with poor systemic exposure. Our effort was focused on modifying 1 with the goal of engineering in oral bioavailability by design, while maintaining cellular potency and low metabolic clearance. Modifications of 1 ultimately led to the invention of nirmatrelvir 14, the Mpro inhibitor component in PAXLOVID.

  PublisherDOI

• Design and application of synthetic 17B-HSD13 substrates reveals preserved catalytic activity of protective human variants

  Nature Communications · 2025-01-02 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Several hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 17-beta 13 variants have previously been identified as protective against metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) fibrosis, ballooning and inflammation, and as such this target holds significant therapeutic potential. However, over 5 years later, the function of 17B-HSD13 remains unknown. Structure-aided design enables the development of potent and selective sulfonamide-based 17B-HSD13 inhibitors. In order to probe their inhibitory potency in endogenous expression systems like primary human hepatocytes, inhibitors are transformed into synthetic surrogate substrates with distinct selectivity advantages over substrates previously published. Their application to cells endogenously expressing 17B-HSD13 enables quantitative measures of enzymatic inhibition in primary human hepatocytes which has never been reported to date. Application to multiple cellular systems expressing the protective human variants reveals that the most prevalent IsoD variant maintains NAD-dependent catalytic activity towards some but not all substrates, contradicting reports that the truncation results in loss-of-function. Several 17B-HSD13 variants have been identified as protective against NASH/MASH. However the protein’s endogenous function is unknown. Here authors describe sulfonamide-based inhibitors and synthetic substrates, then apply to multiple cellular systems revealing that the most prevalent IsoD variant maintains NAD-dependent catalytic activity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Enhancing simulation feasibility for multi-layer 2D MoS₂ RRAM devices: reliability performance learnings from a passive network model

  Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  article

  This paper presents a novel simulator aimed at providing an intuitive, visual representation of the stochastic behaviors involved in the RS process of multi-layer 2D MoS 2 RRAM devices.

  PublisherDOI

• Understanding the Resistive Switching Mechanism of 2-D RRAM: Monte Carlo Modeling and a Proposed Application for Reliability Research

  IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices · 2023-03-06 · 8 citations

  articleSenior author

  The 2-D materials have become promising candidates for resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices as more unique resistive switching (RS) characteristics have recently been revealed. However, endurance is a major challenge for industrialization. Unlike the well-developed and recognized conductive filament (CF) model for oxide-based RRAM, the RS mechanism for 2-D RRAM is not well understood. In this article, we first review the dissociation–diffusion–adsorption (DDA) model and the cluster model proposed in previous works on monolayer 2-D RRAM devices. The use of a Monte Carlo (MC) simulator for multilayer 2-D RRAM devices to expand the application of DDA and cluster models is then discussed. A simulator was designed to provide an intuitive physical view by visualizing the stochastic behaviors of the RS process in multilayer 2-D RRAM devices. By comparing the simulated results with experimental data, the endurance characteristic was found to be mainly determined by the formation and collapse of an effective switching layer. We also found that the thickness of the effective switching layer is independent of the total thickness of the multilayer 2-D material and the initial status of the device, which is consistent with the experimental observations. The model and results discussed in this work provide additional insights and guidance for improving the reliability of 2-D RRAM devices.

  PublisherDOI

• Self-Selective Dielectric-Fuse Effect with Ambient Factors in Oxide-Based Memory

  ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology · 2023-05-26 · 1 citations

  article

  A dual-function memory with CMOS compatibility has been presented with the feasibility of future embedded applications. The self-selective memory composed of bilayer oxide stacks is presented with the immunity of sneak-path current (SPC) and improved thermal stability for the high storage class memory array application. Meanwhile, the one-time programmable (OTP) memory is realized by the identical bilayer structure which has improved the yield of dielectric-fuse phenomena by increasing the operating temperature up to 423 K. The physical mechanisms and modeling are investigated with experimental and simulated results. Our results provide pathfinding of high density, CMOS back-end-of-line (BEOL) integration capability, land ow power multi-functionality in the future embedded applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Post-annealing optimization of the heteroepitaxial La-doped SrSnO₃ integrated on silicon <i>via</i> ALD

  Nanoscale · 2023-01-01 · 4 citations

  article

  excess oxygen annealing. This work expands current optimization methods for reducing defects in epitaxial LSSO/BTO perovskite heterostructures and shows that excess oxygen annealing is a powerful tool for enhancing the capacitance properties of LSSO/BTO heterostructures.

  PublisherDOI

• Design of Next-Generation DGAT2 Inhibitor PF-07202954 with Longer Predicted Half-Life

  ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters · 2023-10-02 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) inhibitors have been shown to lower liver triglyceride content and are being explored clinically as a treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This work details efforts to find an extended-half-life DGAT2 inhibitor. A basic moiety was added to a known inhibitor template, and the basicity and lipophilicity were fine-tuned by the addition of electrophilic fluorines. A weakly basic profile was required to find an appropriate balance of potency, clearance, and permeability. This work culminated in the discovery of PF-07202954 (12), a weakly basic DGAT2 inhibitor that has advanced to clinical studies. This molecule displays a higher volume of distribution and longer half-life in preclinical species, in keeping with its physicochemical profile, and lowers liver triglyceride content in a Western-diet-fed rat model.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reliability Improvement and Effective Switching Layer Model of Thin‐Film MoS₂ Memristors

  Advanced Functional Materials · 2023-04-13 · 47 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract 2D memristors have demonstrated attractive resistive switching characteristics recently but also suffer from the reliability issue, which limits practical applications. Previous efforts on 2D memristors have primarily focused on exploring new material systems, while damage from the metallization step remains a practical concern for the reliability of 2D memristors. Here, the impact of metallization conditions and the thickness of MoS 2 films on the reliability and other device metrics of MoS 2 ‐based memristors is carefully studied. The statistical electrical measurements show that the reliability can be improved to 92% for yield and improved by ≈16× for average DC cycling endurance in the devices by reducing the top electrode (TE) deposition rate and increasing the thickness of MoS 2 films. Intriguing convergence of switching voltages and resistance ratio is revealed by the statistical analysis of experimental switching cycles. An “effective switching layer” model compatible with both monolayer and few‐layer MoS 2 , is proposed to understand the reliability improvement related to the optimization of fabrication configuration and the convergence of switching metrics. The Monte Carlo simulations help illustrate the underlying physics of endurance failure associated with cluster formation and provide additional insight into endurance improvement with device fabrication optimization.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Wafer-Scalable Single-Layer Amorphous Molybdenum Trioxide

  ACS Nano · 2022-02-21 · 31 citations

  articleOpen access

  Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3), an important transition metal oxide (TMO), has been extensively investigated over the past few decades due to its potential in existing and emerging technologies, including catalysis, energy and data storage, electrochromic devices, and sensors. Recently, the growing interest in two-dimensional (2D) materials, often rich in interesting properties and functionalities compared to their bulk counterparts, has led to the investigation of 2D MoO3. However, the realization of large-area true 2D (single to few atom layers thick) MoO3 is yet to be achieved. Here, we demonstrate a facile route to obtain wafer-scale monolayer amorphous MoO3 using 2D MoS2 as a starting material, followed by UV–ozone oxidation at a substrate temperature as low as 120 °C. This simple yet effective process yields smooth, continuous, uniform, and stable monolayer oxide with wafer-scale homogeneity, as confirmed by several characterization techniques, including atomic force microscopy, numerous spectroscopy methods, and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, using the subnanometer MoO3 as the active layer sandwiched between two metal electrodes, we demonstrate the thinnest oxide-based nonvolatile resistive switching memory with a low voltage operation and a high ON/OFF ratio. These results (potentially extendable to other TMOs) will enable further exploration of subnanometer stoichiometric MoO3, extending the frontiers of ultrathin flexible oxide materials and devices.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• CCDC 2017200: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

  The Cambridge Structural Database · 2022-06-21

  datasetOpen access

  An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Yao‐Feng Chang

  Intel (United States)

  68 shared

• Burt Fowler

  The University of Texas at Austin

  53 shared

• Ying‐Chen Chen

  Arizona State University

  50 shared

• Fei Zhou

  Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  49 shared

• Yanzhen Wang

  Jinan University

  47 shared

• Yen‐Ting Chen

  43 shared

• Fei Xue

  University of Alabama at Birmingham

  41 shared

• Xiaohan Wu

  Jiangsu University

  39 shared

Labs

• Special Education - Department of Special Education, University of Texas at AustinPI

Awards & honors

• ABAI Distinguished Contribution to Diversity, Equity, and In…
• Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) Research Training ,…
• Ventura Endowed Fellowship for Autism Research , Department…
• Research Institute for Implementation Science in Education (…
• Getting SMART: Comprehensive Program for Adaptive Interventi…