Chemistry Department Faculty
Abhishek Chatterjee
Professor of Chemistry
Abhishek Chatterjee
Ph.D.
Contact
Merkert Center 201
Telephone: 617-552-1778
Email: abhishek.chatterjee@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0002-6231-5302
Education
- Ph.D., Cornell University
Research Interests
Combining directed evolution and chemical approaches to engineer biology for developing next-generation biotherapeutics and novel tools to probe complex biological questions.
Research
The Chatterjee group takes an interdisciplinary approach to engineer biology with the ultimate goal of developing new technologies to probe complex biological questions, and to create novel biotherapeutics that target challenging human diseases. A particular focus of the group is the development of technology for site-directed incorporation of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) with enabling chemistries into proteins expressed in living cells. We are using this technology for: 1) The development of new bioorthogonal conjugation reactions, especially ones that are compatible with existing bioconjugation chemistries to enable site-specific protein labeling with multiple distinct entities; 2) The development of next-generation biotherapeutics, such as therapeutic protein conjugates, as well as precisely modified adeno-associated virus vectors for human gene therapy; 3) Elucidating the roles of various post-translational modifications of mammalian proteins; 4) Versatile analysis of newly synthesized proteins in living cells. In order to facilitate these applications, we have: 1) Developed new aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA platforms that enable site-specific incorporation of previously inaccessible structural classes of ncAAs, 2) Combined these platforms to enable site-specific incorporation of multiple distinct ncAAs into proteins, 3) Developed optimized delivery strategies for introducing the ncAA incorporation machinery in a broad range of mammalian cells, and 4) Developed a novel mammalian cell-based directed evolution platform to improve the performance of the ncAA incorporation machinery.
Selected Honors and Awards
2024 Bioconjugate Chemistry Young Investigator Award
2022 Allen Distinguished Investigator Award
2018 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
2018 Scialog® Fellowship (Research Corporation and the Moore Foundation)
2013 Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Sciences
Representative Key Publications:
- "Electrochemical labelling of hydroxyindoles with chemoselectivity for site-specific protein bioconjugation." Loynd C.; Singha Roy, SJ.; Ovalle, V.J.; Canarelli, S.E.; Mondal, A.; Jewel, D.; Ficaretta, E.D.; Weerapana, E.; Chatterjee, A. Nature Chemistry. 2024, 16(3), 389-397
- “An Efficient Opal-Suppressor Tryptophanyl Pair Creates New Routes for Simultaneously Incorporating up to Three Distinct Noncanonical Amino Acids into Proteins in Mammalian Cells.” Osgood, A.O.; Zheng, Y.; Roy, S.J.S.; Biris, N.; Hussain, M.; Loynd, C.; Jewel, D.; Italia, J.S.; Chatterjee, A. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2023, 62(19), 3202219269.
- “Virus-assisted Directed Evolution of Enhanced Suppressor tRNAs in Mammalian Cells.” Jewel, D.; Keleman, R.E.; Huang, R.L.; Zhu, Z.; Sundaresh, B.; Cao, X.; Malley, K.; Huang, Z.; Pasha, M.; Anthony, J.; van Opijnen, T.; Chatterjee, A. Nature Methods 2023, 20, 95-103.
- “A Facile Platform to Engineer Escherichia coli Tyrosyl-tRNA Synthetase Adds New Chemistries to the Eukaryotic Genetic Code, Including a Phosphotyrosine Mimic.” Grasso, K.T.; Roy, S.J.S.; Osgood, A.O.; Yeo, M.J.R.; Soni, C.; Hillebrand, C.M.; Ficaretta, E.D.; Chatterjee, A. ACS Central Science. 2022, 8(4), 483-92.
- “Genetically Encoded Protein Sulfation in Mammalian Cells.” Italia, J.S.; Peeler, J.C.; Hillenbrand, C.M.; Latour, C.; Weerapana, W.; Chatterjee; A. Nature Chemical Biology. 2020, 16, 379-82.
- “Mutually Orthogonal Nonsense-suppression Systems and Conjugation Chemistries for Precise Protein Labeling at Up to Three Distinct Sites.” Italia, J.S.; Addy, P.S.; Erickson, S.B.; Peeler, J.C.; Weerapana, E.; Chatterjee, A. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2019, 141, 6204-12.
- “An Orthogonalized Platform for Genetic Code Expansion in Both Bacteria and Eukaryotes.” Italia, J.S.; Addy, P.S.; Wrobel, C.J.J.; Crawford, L.A.; Lajoie, M.J.; Zheng, Y.; Chatterjee, A. Nature Chenical Biology. 2017, 13(4), 446-50.