Title
Class of 1942 Chair; Professor

Department
Dept of Chemistry
Dept of Molecular & Cell Biology
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute


Faculty URL
https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/faculty/chem/chris-chang

Research Group
http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/cjcgrp/

Email
chrischang@berkeley.edu

Phone
(510) 642-4704


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Research Expertise and Interest
chemistry, inorganic chemistry, neuroscience, bioinorganic chemistry, general physiology, organic chemistry, new chemical tools for biological imaging and proteomics, new metal complexes for energy catalysis and green chemistry, chemical biology

Research Description
Chemical Biology, Bioinorganic Chemistry, and Inorganic Chemistry
The Chang Lab studies metals in biology and energy by pursuing new concepts in sensing and catalysis that draw from core disciplines of inorganic, organic, and biological chemistry. They have developed activity-based sensing (ABS) as a general technology platform to enable biological applications that include imaging and diagnostics, proteomics, and drug discovery. These new chemical tools have identified copper, hydrogen peroxide, and formaldehyde as signals for regulating processes spanning neural activity and neurodegeneration to cancer and fat metabolism, opening a field of transition metal signaling. They are advancing artificial photosynthesis through the development of molecular catalysts for sustainable electrosynthesis that mimic enzyme biocatalysts or heterogeneous materials catalysts, as well as hybrid catalysts that merge design concepts from molecular, materials, and biological catalysts. Representative project areas are summarized below.
Transition Metal Signaling: Metalloallostery in the Brain and Beyond. They are advancing a new paradigm of transition metal signaling, where essential nutrients like copper and iron can serve as dynamic signals for biology by binding to metalloallosteric sites to regulate protein function beyond traditional active sites. They are developing activity-based sensing (ABS) probes for fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging of dynamic transition metal pools, chemoproteomic identification and biochemical characterization of new metalloprotein targets, and drug discovery to treat disease within the lens of metalloplasias. We work across cell, zebrafish, and mouse models to study transition metal signaling in cancer, obesity and fatty liver disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Activity-Based Sensing: Redox and One-Carbon Signaling. They are developing the concept of activity-based sensing (ABS), which is an emerging field that utilizes chemical reactivity rather than conventional lock-and-key binding, to probe and manipulate biological systems. They synthesize activity-based probes for fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging of reactive oxygen species and one-carbon units to study basic biology of redox and one-carbon signaling and metabolism in cell animal models. They also create activity-based probes for bioconjugation chemistry and chemoproteomics in the context of drug discovery.
Artificial Photosynthesis: Catalyzing Sustainable Electrosynthesis. They are developing catalysts for sustainable electrosynthesis to address changing climate and rising global energy demands. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, which catalyzes conversion of the abundant chemical resources of light, water, and carbon dioxide to produce the value-added products needed to sustain life, they are taking a unified approach to this small-molecule activation problem by creating molecular electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction and nitrogen/phosphorus cycling that draw on design principles from molecular, materials, and biological catalysis and operate in water.