Chemical biology is a scientific discipline spanning the fields of chemistry and biology. It involves the application of various chemical and fabrication techniques, molecular and systems-wide analyses, and the synthesis of small molecules and entire proteins, toward investigating and manipulating complex biological systems. Chemical Biologists in our Department are addressing urgent needs in understanding fundamental biological processes and improving human health. Our efforts benefit from collaborations with the top-ranked UW School of Medicine and other synergistic programs on campus. Highlights of our work include elucidating molecular mechanisms in gene regulation, signaling, and metabolic networks, performing ultra-high-resolution imaging in cells and tissues, developing newborn blood-screening assays for early disease detection, and using novel polymers and devices for cell and organoid culture. We are collectively applying fundamental principles in physics and chemistry toward long-standing problems in biology and medicine.
Research Strengths
- Enzymology and macromolecular structure/function (Bush, Chatterjee, Gelb, Kovacs, Maly, Rajakovich, Riley, Stoll, Varani, Zalatan)
- Gene regulation and chromatin structure (Chatterjee, Rathod, Vaughan, Zalatan)
- Materials and devices for cell culture (Nelson, Theberge)
- Microscopy and cell/tissue structure (Chiu, Fu, Keller, Vaughan)
- Therapeutics and diagnostics (Chiu, Gelb, Maly, Rathod, Varani)
Highlighted Resources
- Institute for Protein Design
- Center for Synthetic Biology
- Student Innovation Center
- UW Proteomics Resource Center
- Molecular Analysis Facility
- Optical and Electron Microscopy Centers
See also: Biophysics, Organic Chemistry
