Chemistry Department Faculty
Abhishek Chatterjee
Professor of Chemistry
Abhishek Chatterjee
Ph.D.
Contact
Merkert Center General
Telephone: 617-552-1778
Email: abhishek.chatterjee@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0002-6231-5302
Education
- Ph.D., Cornell University
Research Interests
Development and application of methods enabling site-specific labeling of any chosen protein in a living cell with useful biochemical and biophysical probes to investigate its function in its native environment.
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 site-specific bioconjugation approaches, 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 antibody 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 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
2018 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
2018 Scialog® Fellowship (Research Corporation and the Moore Foundation)
2013 Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Sciences
2012 Jared F. Purton Memorial Award (TSRI)
2008 Tunis Wentink Prize (Cornell University)
2007 Vincent du Vigneaud Prize (Cornell University)
Representative Key Publications:
- "Site-specific incorporation of citrulline into proteins in mammalian cells." S Mondal, S Wang, Y Zheng, S Sen, A Chatterjee*, PR Thompson*. Nature Communications, 12, 45. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20279-w (2021)
- "Genetically encoded protein sulfation in mammalian cells." JS Italia, JC Peeler, CM Hillenbrand, C Latour, E Weerapana*, A Chatterjee*. Nature Chemical Biology, 16, 379-382. DOI:10.1038/s41589-020-0493-1 (2020)
- "Mutually orthogonal nonsense-suppression systems and conjugation chemistries for precise protein labeling at up to three distinct sites." JS Italia, PS Addy, SB Erickson, JC Peeler, E Weerapana, A Chatterjee*. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141 (15), 6204-6212. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b12954 (2019)
- "Resurrecting the Bacterial Tyrosyl-tRNA Synthetase/tRNA Pair for Expanding the Genetic Code of Both E. coli and Eukaryotes." JS Italia, C Latour, CJJ Wrobel, A Chatterjee*. Cell Chemical Biology, 25, 1304–1312. DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.07.002 (2018)
- "Defining the current scope and limitations of dual noncanonical amino acid mutagenesis in mammalian cells." Y Zheng, PS Addy, R Mukherjee, A Chatterjee*. Chemical Science, 8, 7211. DOI: 10.1039/C7SC02560B (2017)
- "A Chemoselective Rapid Azo-Coupling Reaction (CRACR) for Unclickable Bioconjugation." PS Addy, SB Erickson, JS Italia, A Chatterjee*. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139 (34), 11670. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b05125 (2017)
- "An orthogonalized platform for genetic code expansion in both bacteria and eukaryotes." JS Italia, PS Addy, CJJ Wrobel, LA Crawford, MJ Lajoie, Y Zheng, A Chatterjee*. Nature Chemical Biology, 13, 446-450. DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2312. (2017)
- “A Precise Chemical Strategy To Alter the Receptor Specificity of the Adeno‐Associated Virus." RE Kelemen, R Mukherjee, X Cao, SB Erickson, Y Zheng, A Chatterjee*. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55, 10645-10649 doi: 10.1002/anie.201604067. (2016)