Charles Craik

My research interests focus on defining the roles and the mechanisms of enzymes and other challenging proteins in complex biological processes and on developing technologies to facilitate these studies. The current research in the Craik lab focuses on the chemical biology of proteolytic and protein degradation enzymes, receptors and membrane transporters. A particular emphasis of our work is on identifying the roles and regulating the activity of key proteins associated with infectious diseases, neurodegeneration and cancer. I am also interested in developing novel methods to biophysically characterize challenging proteins as well as their complexes. These studies coupled with our global substrate profiling, antibody engineering and noninvasive imaging efforts are providing a better understanding of both the chemical make-up and the biological importance of these critical proteins to aid in the rapid detection, monitoring and control of infectious disease, neurological disorders and cancer. This in turn is leading to the development of strategies for regulating these activities as a means of therapeutic intervention. Further study of these proteins holds promise for better understanding, rapid detection and eventual control of infectious diseases, cancer and neurodegeneration.