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Abstract:

The lab has a longstanding interest in photochemically cleaving covalent bonds and thereby removing light-sensitive protecting groups, so called caging groups, from proteins and nucleic acids. This has allowed for the precise spatial and temporal control of biological processes, for example DNA recombination, gene editing, cell signaling, etc, in cells, tissues, and animals. In recent years, we have become increasingly interested in creating covalent bonds in biological systems through the use of self-labeling enzymes and label-transferring aptamers. This enabled to modification of cancer and T cell surfaces for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

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Bio:

Alex is currently a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and founding Director of the Institute for Synthetic Biology. His group's research interests are in the areas of Synthetic Biology and Chemical Biology, with a focus on cell, protein, and nucleic acid engineering.ÌýProjects in his lab include the engineering of an expanded genetic code, discovery of small molecule modifiers of microRNA pathways, medicinal chemistry of sulfotransferase inhibitors, development of peptides and aptamers as covalent protein modifiers, construction of antibody drug conjugates, and the application of chemical adaptor systems to cell therapy. Prominent disease indications targeted in Alex's lab include cancer, neurological disorders, and viral infections. Several of the compounds and reagents that his group developed are now commercially available.ÌýAlex has been granted several patents and technologies that he co-developed have been licensed to biotech companies, such as Coeptis Therapeutics (). He is a co-founder ofÌý.Ìý

Alex is a member of theÌý, theÌýÌýat the University of Pittsburgh, theÌýÌýat the University of Pittsburgh, the Center for Systems ImmunologyÌýat the University of Pittsburgh,Ìýand theÌýat Carnegie Mellon University. He has published >200 peer-reviewed papers, written six book chapters and 14 review articles, has presented over one hundred eighty research seminars, and has consulted for several pharmaceutical companies. Alex is a member of the editorial advisory board ofÌýÌýandÌý,Ìýand a member of the editorial board ofÌý. He also also been a guest editor for special issues ofÌý,Ìý,Ìý,ÌýandÌý. Alex has served as a standing member of NIH's SBCB and CBP study review groups.

Alex was born in Germany and studied Chemistry at the University of Münster from 1993-1998. He received his diploma degree in 1998 and his doctoral degree in 2000 for work in Professor Hoppe's group on new cyclization reactions with enantiomerically enriched allyllithium species. In 2001 he joined Professor Martin's lab at the University of Texas at Austin where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow on the total synthesis of indole alkaloids. In 2002 he began another postdoctorate in Professor Schultz's lab at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla where he developed genetic code expansion methodologies for unnatural amino acids.Ìý

Alex received several awards for his Ph.D. and postdoctoral work, most importantly for the best dissertation at the Departments of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science at the University of Münster in 2001. His studies were continously supported by fellowships from the German National Academic Foundation, the Fund of the Chemical Industry, the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation, and the German Research Foundation.Ìý

In 2004, Alex joined the Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009 and to Full Professor in 2012. He moved his lab to theÌýÌýin September 2013. Alex has trained over one hundred graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduates in his lab. He has also been a faculty advisor to theÌýiGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) teams at the University of Pittsburgh since 2016.
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For his research accomplishments, Alex received a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award from the March of Dimes Foundation, a Sigma Xi Research Faculty Award, a Cottrell Scholar Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Teva USA Scholars Grant from the American Chemical Society, a Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant,ÌýBill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Grant, an NCSU Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, aÌýCharles E. Kaufman FoundationÌýNew Initiative Research Award, an Innovator Award from he University of Pittsburgh, theÌýPittsburgh Award from the American Chemical Society,Ìýand aÌýChancellor’s Distinguished Research Award from the University of Pittsburgh. Research discoveries from his lab have been highlighted by variousÌý