Chaitan Khosla

Last updated
Chaitan Khosla
Nationality Indian
Alma mater Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Caltech
Known for Polyketide synthases, Celiac Disease
Awards Alan T. Waterman Award (1999)
ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (2000)
Scientific career
Fields Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering
Institutions Stanford University
Doctoral advisor Jay Bailey

Chaitan Khosla is an Indian-born American biochemist who is the Wells H. Rauser and Harold M. Petiprin Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Stanford University. He earned his B.Tech. in chemical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1990 with Jay Bailey working on the expression of the Vitreoscilla Hemoglobin gene. [1] [2] He did his postdoctoral work at the John Innes Centre with David Hopwood. [3] He has been a professor at Stanford since 1992 and was the chair of the program. His research is focused on two realms, the first are to build a molecular understanding of polyketide synthases and the second is focused on the biochemistry of celiac disease particularly involving tissue transglutaminase. His group play a large role in identifying the role of the α2-gliadin fragment in immune responses. [4]

His early research on natural product polyketides led to the founding of Kosan Biosciences in 1995. His work on celiac sprue has resulted in the founding of Alvine Pharmaceuticals and the start of the non-profit, Celiac Sprue Research Foundation. [5] He also serves as an advisor to LS9, Inc and Joule Unlimited. He has won numerous awards including the Alan T. Waterman Award (1999), the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry (1999), the ACS Award in pure chemistry (2000), and the Jay Bailey Award (2011).

He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2009 for engineering molecular assembly lines, developing metabolic engineering technologies, and advancing biopharmaceutical discovery. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Caltech.

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References

  1. Khosla, Chaitan; Bailey, James E. (18 February 1988). "Heterologous expression of a bacterial haemoglobin improves the growth properties of recombinant Escherichia coli". Nature. 331 (6157): 633–635. Bibcode:1988Natur.331..633K. doi:10.1038/331633a0. PMID   3277067. S2CID   4367866.
  2. Khosla, Chaitan; Curtis, Joseph E.; DeModena, John; Rinas, Ursula; Bailey, James E. (1 September 1990). "Expression of Intracellular Hemoglobin Improves Protein Synthesis in Oxygen-Limited Escherichia coli". Bio/Technology. 8 (9): 849–853. doi:10.1038/nbt0990-849. PMID   1366796. S2CID   21184197.
  3. Langreth, Robert (23 December 2002). "A Dirty Business". Forbes. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  4. Shan, L. (27 September 2002). "Structural Basis for Gluten Intolerance in Celiac Sprue". Science. 297 (5590): 2275–2279. Bibcode:2002Sci...297.2275S. doi:10.1126/science.1074129. PMID   12351792. S2CID   1413068.
  5. "Stanford researcher to find cure for widespread Celiac disease". EurekAlert. 26 September 2002. Retrieved 22 January 2013.