Kevan Shokat

Professor of Chemistry
Professor and Co-Chair, Dept. of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
University of California, San Diego

Dr. Shokat is a professor and vice-chair of the department of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Kevan Shokat studies two of the most critical types of regulatory enzymes in the body – kinases and GTPases – both of which are key to directing cell activity. Shokat develops novel chemical tools to decipher how these enzymes interact with other proteins and contribute to cell signaling networks, under both normal and diseased conditions. A deeper understanding of kinases and GTPases and how they coordinate cell-cell communication may lead to more effective therapeutics for diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, and other forms of immune dysfunction.