Edward and Virginia Taylor Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University. Excited to study the chemistry and biology of the elements! Find out more about us at https://chrischang.chemistry.princeton.edu
Chris Chang
Acquisition of a histidine pair in RAD23B from amphibians to reptiles enables it to bind copper, making its ancient DNA repair function Cu-dependent and evolving a new function as a metalloadaptor that regulates all major Cu metallochaperone pathways, including those boosting respiration
As a consequence, copper is a single metal nutrient that now centrally controls both genome integrity and metabolic respiration in the cell. This allows cells with high needs for Cu, like locus coeruleus neurons in the brain, to boost activity while avoiding Cu toxicity from oxidative stress.
Copper regulates the evolution of REM sleep and transition of animals from water to land! It all relies on a new “metalloadaptor” function for RAD23B linking Cu uptake to distribution to multiple Cu targets. Tong and Dan co-led this @cp-molcell.bsky.social story www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Congrats to our grad student Angel on this well-earned award! #chemsky #proudadvisor
Happy to share our latest in @jacs.acspublications.org led by Xiao and @genlichem.bsky.social on a new activity-based sensing probe for Cu(I) using a fast alkyne-directed cleavage reaction to discover Mn-sensitized #cuproptosis as a novel type of metal-metal crosstalk! pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Cells with low levels of bioavailable Cu or Fe are susceptible to selective killing by chelation therapy to reduce Cu or Fe-dependent cell growth and proliferation, revealing a disease-relevant metal landscape that can be leveraged for new therapeutics chemistry.princeton.edu/news/chang-l... 2/end
Activity-based sensors identify cuproplasia and ferroplasia as druggable metal vulnerabilities in cancer! With @ginadenicola.bsky.social and Adam Renslo, we profile cancer cell lines to find those sensitive to Cu or Fe chelation www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #chemsky 1/n
Happy to celebrate an early 90th birthday for my dear mentor Harry Gray! #chemsky #graynation @nuchemistry.bsky.social
Excited to share work out in @jacs.acspublications.org led by Yuxuan and @genlichem.bsky.social on activity-based sensing of acetaldehyde using an inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction, enabling selective detection of two-carbon metabolism! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
First Princeton paper! Activity-based sensing plus narrow Raman signatures enable multiplex copper imaging, revealing crosstalk between high antioxidant response element NRF2 activation and low labile Cu in cancer. Fun project with Wei Min’s lab at Columbia! #chemsky pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
