Devaraj, Neal - University of California, San Diego - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

个人简介

Education 2007 PhD, Chemistry, Stanford University 2002 Dual BS, Chemistry and Biology, MIT Appointments 2016 Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego 2011 Assistant Professor, University of California, San Diego Awards and Academic Honors 2018 Magomedov-Shcherbinina Memorial Prize 2018 Lattimer Faculty Research Fellow 2018 Denkewalter Lecturer 2017 ACS Award in Pure Chemistry 2016 NIH Pathfinder Award 2016 National Fresenius Award 2016 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award 2013 NSF CAREER Award 2010 NIH Research Scientist Career Development Award 2007 ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Young Investigator Award 2002 Stanford Graduate Fellowship 2002 MIT Department of Chemistry Alpha Chi Sigma Award

研究领域

The Devaraj Lab at UCSD focuses on the design of chemoselective reactions for addressing problems in bottom-up synthetic biology and molecular imaging. Bioconjugation chemistries are some of the most important and commonly used tools in chemical biology. Our interdisciplinary research aims to advance important knowledge in chemical biology by extending the use of bioconjugation reactions into previously unexplored frontiers and challenging preconceived notions of where chemical reactions can be performed. A few representative research thrusts are summarized below. Synthesis of Artificial Membranes Natural cells have a number of mechanisms to organize biochemical pathways, one of the most prominent being membrane compartmentalization. All living cells utilize membranes to define physical boundaries, control transport, and perform signal transduction. We are devleoping and exploring novel reactions that can trigger de novo vesicle formation and reproduction. While many of the reactions we study are not prebiotically plausible, we believe such studies could reveal some of the fundamental chemical principles that led to the origin of life. Furthermore, we are studying how such reactions could improve our ability to study membrane localized structures and processes. Tools for Detecting and Labeling RNA One of the major revelations of the Human Genome Project was that protein coding genes comprise only 1.2% of the 3 billion base pairs of the human genome. In contrast, 75% of the genome is transcribed, and most of these transcripts do not code for proteins and are thus classified as noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Improved tools for the isolation and imaging of endogenous RNA, and associated protein partners, have the potential to illuminate the various functions and mechanisms of RNA, particularly the vast repertoire of ncRNA elements. Our lab at UCSD has begun developing chemical tools to aid in the imaging and manipulation of RNA. We are approaching this problem by exploiting novel enzymatic and non-enzymatic bioconjugation chemistries. Tetrazine Bioorthogonal Reactions We have had a long-standing interest in the advancement and application of tetrazine cycloadditions, a form of next generation “click” chemistry, to bioconjugation problems. Our goal is to advance the synthetic knowledge related to this unique class of inverse electron demand Diels-Alder cycloadditions to create novel tools for chemical biology research. Tetrazine reactions are attractive because they proceed in the absence of catalysts, have rapid reaction kinetics, and are compatible with fluorogenic probes for live cell imaging. At UCSD, we are tackling many of the challenges in the field. For instance, we are expanding the synthetic methods available to generate tetrazines and are exploring new dienophiles such as cyclopropenes and benzonorbornadienes. We are actively translating our chemical advances to applications in imaging and diagnostics.

近期论文

查看导师新发文章（温馨提示：请注意重名现象，建议点开原文通过作者单位确认）

A. K. Rudd, N. K. Devaraj “Traceless Synthesis of Ceramides in Living Cells Reveals Saturation-Dependent Apoptotic Effects,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2018, In Press A. Seoane, R. J. Brea, A. Fuertes, K. Podolsky, N. K. Devaraj “Biomimetic Generation and Remodeling of Phospholipid Membranes by Dynamic Imine Chemistry,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, In Press, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b04557 H. Wu, N. K. Devaraj “Advances in Tetrazine Bioorthogonal Chemistry Driven by the Synthesis of Novel Tetrazines and Dienophiles,” Acc. Chem. Res., 2018, 51 (5), 1249–1259. X. Shi, T. Wu, C. M. Cole, N. K. Devaraj, S. Joseph “Optimization of ClpXP activity and protein synthesis in an E. coli extract-based cell-free expression system,” Sci. Rep., 2018, 8 (1), 3488. D. Zhang, C. Y. Zhou, K. N. Busby, S. C. Alexander, N. K. Devaraj “Light-activated control of translation by enzymatic covalent mRNA labeling,” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2018, 57 (11), 2822-2826. N. K. Devaraj, C. L. Perrin “Approach control. Stereoelectronic origin of geometric constraints on N-to-S and N-to-O acyl shifts in peptides,” Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 1789-1794. A. Bhattacharya, R. J. Brea, N. K. Devaraj “De novo vesicle formation and growth: an integrative approach to artificial cells,” Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 7912-7922. T. Enomoto, R. J. Brea, A. Bhattacharya, N. K. Devaraj “In Situ Lipid Membrane Formation Triggered by an Intramolecular Photoinduced Electron Transfer,” Langmuir, 2017, 34 (3), 750-755. C. Y. Zhou, S. C. Alexander, N. K. Devaraj “Fluorescent Turn-on Probes for Wash-Free mRNA Imaging via Covalent Site-Specific Enzymatic Labeling,” Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 7169-7173. R. J. Brea, N. K. Devaraj “Continual Reproduction of Self-Assembling Oligotriazole Peptide Nanomaterials,” Nat. Commun., 2017, 8 (1), 730. F. Ehret, C. Y. Zhou, S. C. Alexander, D. Zhang, N. K. Devaraj “Site-Specific Covalent Conjugation of Modified mRNA by tRNA Guanine Transglycosylase,” Mol. Pharm., 2017, In Press. S. C. Alexander, N. K. Devaraj “Developing a fluorescent toolbox to shed light on the mysteries of RNA,” Biochemistry, 2017, 56 (39), pp 5185–5193. N. K. Devaraj, “In Situ Synthesis of Phospholipid Membranes,” J. Org. Chem., 2017, 82 (12), pp 5997–6005. R. J. Brea, C. M. Cole, B. R. Lyda, L. Ye, R. S. Prosser, R. K. Sunahara, N. K. Devaraj, “In Situ Reconstitution of the Adenosine A2A Receptor in Spontaneously Formed Synthetic Liposomes,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139 (10), 3607-3610. R. J. Brea, A. Bhattacharya, N. K. Devaraj, “Spontaneous Phospholipid Membrane Formation by Histidine Ligation,” Synlett, 2017, 28(01): 108-112. R. J. Brea, A. K. Rudd, N. K. Devaraj, “Non-Enzymatic Biomimetic Remodeling of Phospholipids in Synthetic Liposomes,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2016, 113 (31), 8589-8594. H. Wu, S. C. Alexander, S. Jin, N. K. Devaraj, “A Bioorthogonal Near-infrared Fluorogenic Probe for mRNA Detection,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138 (36), 11429–11432. M. D. Hardy, D. Konetski, C. N. Bowman, N. K. Devaraj, “Ruthenium Photoredox-Triggered Phospholipid Formation,” Org. Biomol. Chem., 2016, 14, 5555-5558. S. Chowdhuri, C. M. Cole, N. K. Devaraj “Encapsulation of Living Cells within Giant Phospholipid Liposomes Formed by the Inverse-Emulsion Technique” ChemBioChem, 2016, 17 (10), 886-889. H. Wu, N. K. Devaraj, “Inverse Electron-Demand Diels–Alder Bioorthogonal Reactions,” Top. Curr. Chem., 2016, 374(1), 1-22.