Peter A. Beal is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Davis and current Director of the NIH-funded UC Davis Chemical Biology Graduate Program. Research from the Beal laboratory has advanced understanding of the structures and mechanism of action for ADAR enzymes responsible for adenosine to inosine RNA editing in humans. Recently, this knowledge has been to the design of guiding oligonucleotides capable of directing ADARs to make edits that correct disease-causing mutations in the transcriptome. Targets include mutations in mRNAs associated with Rett syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Beal teaches organic chemistry at the undergraduate level and several classes in nucleic acids chemistry and chemical biology at the graduate level.