Dr. Jae Won Chang
Dr. Chang obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry and Organic Chemistry from Sogang University, South Korea. After graduation, he joined the laboratory of Professor Nathanael S. Gray at Harvard University as a Research Associate. There, he developed the first ATP-competitive inhibitors (Torin1) of mTOR that were used to discover that mTOR regulates protein translation and cell growth more profoundly than previously anticipated. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute as a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Predoctoral Fellow, where he performed research with Professor Benjamin F. Cravatt. His graduate work focused on the development of first-in-class and best-in-class inhibitors and imaging probes of the serine hydrolase enzymes. Then, as a Postdoctoral Scholar with Professor Raymond E. Moellering at the University of Chicago, he developed a nucleophilic, desthiobiotin-containing hydroxylamine (DBHA) chemical probe that covalently labels modified aspartic acid residues in native proteomes. Dr. Chang joined the faculty at Emory University in the Department of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology and Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology in the Fall of 2019 and is a member of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.
Dr. Chang’s research interests have concentrated on developing novel chemical probes to solve problems in various fields - Chemical Biology, Chemical Proteomics, Metabolomics, Medicinal Chemistry, and Molecular Imaging, as well as challenges in modern biology such as Cancer Therapy. The novel chemical probes would be useful for the development of potent and specific drugs targeting poorly characterized proteins from the earliest stages of target validation through medicinal chemistry optimization and even though pharmacodynamic studies during clinical trials. His laboratory is mainly focused on developing of novel chemical probes for profiling poorly characterized protein activities and drugs for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of diseases like cancer and diabetes.