Christopher Garcia is interested in cell surface receptors and their ligands. Using a range of methodologies, Garcia and his team investigate how ligand recognition and signaling coordinate with the physiology of the cell to determine cell function and fate. In addition to understanding basic aspects of receptor signaling and structural biology, the team is also interested in the creation of novel receptor ligands using protein engineering, and “deorphanization,” or matching of newly discovered receptors to their ligands, using proteomics. A major aim of their work is to synthetically leverage natural biological signaling mechanisms as a path to potential therapeutics.
Where & When
Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Wednesday, February 23, 2022
About the Speaker
K. Christopher Garcia, Ph.D. is a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and of Structural Biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Tulane University, and his Ph.D in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. After two years of post-doctoral work at Genentech, Inc. under Dr. David Goeddel in the Dept. of Molecular Biology, where he learned the emerging technologies of protein engineering and recombinant protein expression, Dr. Garcia moved to a second post-doctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute in the laboratory of Prof. Ian Wilson, where he succeeded in determining the first crystal structures of the T cell receptor and then its complex with peptide-MHC. In 1999, Dr. Garcia started his lab at Stanford University School of Medicine in 1999 where he also became an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Garcia was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2016.
Dr. Garcia’s interests reside at the cell surface, and his laboratory is investigating structural and functional aspects of cell surface receptor recognition and activation, in receptor-ligand systems with relevance to human health and disease. A common theme is that structural information on receptor-ligand complexes is used to engineer variant proteins and/or surrogates to manipulate receptor signaling and cellular function, as well as act as biological probes to perturb systems in vivo, with an eye towards therapeutic applications. The receptor systems studied derive principally from the immune system (TCR/MHC, cytokines, chemokine GPCR), but additionally encompass several systems that are also important in neurobiology (Neurotrophins, Semaphorins) and development (Notch, Wnt). A focus is on "shared" pleiotropic receptors, to understand the biophysical basis by which different ligands are able to elicit unique intracellular responses and functional outcomes. Dr Garcia’s lab also has an active program in deorphanizing cell surface receptors, including IgSF members. Dr. Garcia has founded or co-founded several biotech companies that are attempting to clinically develop technologies from his lab, including ALXO (SIRP/CD7 antagonist), Synthekine (cytokine engineering), Surrozen (Wnt agonists), 3T (TCR antigen discovery), and Mozart (immune modulation by regulatory T cells).