Dr. Johannes Morstein

Johannes Morstein
Department of Chemistry
University of California-San Francisco
Abstract

Cracking the Lipid Code with Chemical Biology

Lipids are metabolites with enormous structural and functional diversity. In biological systems, they function as sources of energy, form physical barriers, and orchestrate cellular signaling and trafficking in manifold ways. Because of the large number of lipids, complex metabolic networks, small size, and physicochemical properties, the elucidation of their biological functions has been challenging. I will present on chemical biology approaches that address some of these challenges by expanding our ability to control lipid function with high spatiotemporal precision, to target membrane proteins including Ras, Rho, and Rab GTPases, and to modulate protein-membrane interfaces with novel pharmacology.

Johannes Morstein

Dr. Johannes Morstein is an NCI K99/ R00 Postdoctoral Scholar in the group of Kevan Shokat at the University of California, San Francisco. He studied chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Munich, Germany and conducted visiting research with Chris Chang and John Hartwig in Berkeley. From there he went on to purse a PhD with Dirk Trauner at New York University. His research interests involve chemical biology, organic synthesis, pharmacology, and lipids.