Professor Chris Chang

Chris Chang
Department of Chemistry
Princeton University

Activity-Based Proteomics: Deciphering Single-Atom Chemical Biology

Within the central dogma of biology, chemical reactions on the living proteome via post- translational modifications can expand the 20,000 linear sequences of proteins translated by the ribosome to millions of proteoforms. Despite their large size, the structure and function of proteins can be profoundly influenced by the addition or subtraction of a single atom at specific amino acid side chains. We are advancing a field of single-atom chemical biology to study the impact of these simplest of post-translational modifications. This presentation will focus on our latest work in protein bioconjugation chemistry as the foundation for activity-based proteomics platforms to profile single-atom chemical biology, such as the reversible addition or removal of single oxygen atoms on the proteome. By providing sequence information on site-specific oxygen marks in cells and animals, such chemical probes can help identify next-generation precision diagnostics and medicines that target redox disease vulnerabilities in cancer and neurodegeneration.

Chris Chang

Chris Chang is the Edward and Virginia Taylor Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. He completed his B.S. and M.S. at Caltech in 1997, working with Harry Gray, followed by a Fulbright scholar year at the Université Louis Pasteur in 1998 with Jean-Pierre Sauvage. Chris earned his Ph.D. from MIT in 2002 with Dan Nocera and continued his postdoctoral studies at MIT with Steve Lippard. Chris began his independent career at UC Berkeley in 2004 and moved to Princeton in 2024. His laboratory focuses on the study of elements in chemistry and biology, spanning transition metals, reactive oxygen species, and carbon metabolites. The Chang laboratory develops activity-based sensing and proteomics probes to investigate questions in neuroscience, cancer, and metabolic diseases, advancing new concepts that drive biology and medicine such as transition metal signaling, metalloallostery, and metalloplasia. Chris has mentored over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in his laboratory, along with another 90 undergraduates and visiting scholars, with 45 group alumni now leading their own laboratories as independent faculty. 

Host: Rene Boiteau