People

David Agard, PhD

Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

Discovering the Structural Basis for Biological Function at the Molecular and Cellular Levels

Our research is focused on elucidating the mechanism of Hsp90 chaperone function and its role in human disease, microtubule nucleation and centrosome structure, and the structure and cell biology of phage-encoded tubulins.

In efforts to understand the spatial and temporal regulation of tubulin polymerization into microtubules (MTs), we seek to understand, in atomic detail, the molecular mechanisms underlying dynamic MT behavior and MT nucleation.

Yifan Cheng, PhD

Associate Professor
Biochemistry and BIophysics

We are interested in studying the three-dimensional structures of macromolecular complexes: their structural architectures, the regulation of their function and the dynamic processes of their assembly and disassembly, by molecular electron microscopy (cryoEM). A full understanding of the biological functions/processes of any macromolecular complex requires structural information at a wide range of resolutions, including atomic details of its components, spatial arrangements of these components and interactions between them.

Seemay Chou, PhD

ASST ADJ PROF-FY
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

We study the mechanistic forces that drive animal–microbe interactions. Our lab takes an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand these relationships at multiple levels, ranging from atomic to organismal.

Roger Cooke, PhD

Professor Emeritus
Biochemistry and BIophysics

We study the Biophysics and Physiology of muscle. We have recently explored a mechanism that plays a role in the metabolic rate of resting skeletal muscle. This involves an equilibrium between two states of the motor protein, myosin. In one state myosin has a much ATPase rate than in the other. Shifting myosin into the state with the higher ATPase activity in resting muscle will increase the metabolic rate of the muscle.

Charles Craik, PhD

Professor
Pharmaceutical Chemistry

My research interests focus on defining the roles and the mechanisms of enzymes and other challenging proteins in complex biological processes and on developing technologies to facilitate these studies. The current research in the Craik lab focuses on the chemical biology of proteolytic and protein degradation enzymes, receptors and membrane transporters. A particular emphasis of our work is on identifying the roles and regulating the activity of key proteins associated with infectious diseases, neurodegeneration and cancer.

Robert Fletterick, PhD

Professor
Biochemistry and BIophysics

Robert Fletterick is in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco where he has served as Chair and Vice Chair.  He is also jointly appointed with the Departments of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at UCSF.  Robert is a world-renowned researcher in the area of structural biology.  His laboratory has determined high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of nuclear receptors, kinesin molecular motors, clathrin, and many enzymes.  He is known for his work on constructing engineered proteins with new function.

James Fraser, PhD

Department Chair and Professor
Bioengineering

The long-term goals of our research are to understand how protein conformational ensembles are reshaped by perturbations, such as mutation and ligand binding, and to quantify how these perturbations impact protein function and organismal fitness. To accomplish these goals, we create new computational and biophysical approaches to study how proteins move between different conformational states.

Adam Frost, PhD, MD

ASSOC ADJ PROF-FY
Biochemistry and BIophysics

John Gross, PhD

Professor
Pharmaceutical Chemistry

We investigate molecular machines that coordinate gene expression or antiviral immunity. Research areas include : i- RNA decay enzymes that act in mRNA quality control and gene regulatory pathways, and ii- nucleic acid based immune systems that protect animals from viruses and neutralization of these systems by viral accessory proteins. We use tools from molecular biophysics to understand the structure and regulatory conformational dynamics in these systems with the ultimate goal of defining molecular mechanisms and avenues for structure based drug design.

Natalia Jura, PhD

Assistant Professor
Cardiovascular Research Inst

Wendell Lim, PhD

Professor
Cellular Molecular Pharmacology

Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD

Associate Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Aashish was an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis, where he worked in the lab of Jeff McKinney on Salmonella-host interactions. He moved to California in 2008 to join the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program.

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