DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

• zhang@northwestern.edu
• Website
• 847-491-4441
• Tech L214
• Program Assistant: Anne Muller

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

Chemistry of Life Processes Institute (CLP)

Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Graduate Program (IBiS)

International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN)

Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine

Center for Human Immunobiology, Feinberg School of Medicine

Research Statement

My research group aims to leverage innovative chemical biology approaches to expand the druggable proteome of human cells and discover chemical probes for protein targets that remain therapeutically inaccessible. We are approaching this mission from three angles : 1) Developing chemical tools and technologies to advance targeted protein degradation; 2) Developing novel chemical modalities to target immunological pathways; and 3) Expanding the druggable landscape of the cell surface proteome.

Basu AA, Zhang C, Rouhimoghadam M, Vasudevan A, Reitsma, JM, Zhang X. Harnessing the FBXW7 somatic mutant R465C for targeted protein degradation. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 147 (2025) 6108-6115.

Sanchez A, Zhou C, Tulaiha R, Ramirez F, Wang L, Zhang X. CRISPR screen identifies BAP1 as a deubiquitinase regulating SPIN4 stability. Biochemistry, (2025) [DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.5c00493]

Campos MA, Riha IA, Zhang C, Mozes C, Scheidt KA, Zhang X. Discovery of DCAF16 binders for targeted protein degradation. ACS Chem. Biol., 20 (2025) 479-488.

Riha IA, Campos MA, Jin X, Wang FY, Zhang C, Dunne SF, Cravatt BF, Zhang X. Exploiting the DCAF16-SPIN4 interaction to identify DCAF16 ligands for PROTAC development. RSC Med. Chem., 16 (2025) 892-906.

Zhang X, Simon GM, Cravatt BF. Implications of frequent hitter E3 ligases in targeted protein degradation screens. Nat. Chem. Biol., 21 (2025) 474-481.

Basu AA, Zhang C, Riha IA, Magassa A, Campos MA, Caldwell AG, Ko F, Zhang X. A CRISPR activation screen identifies FBXO22 supporting targeted protein degradation. Nat. Chem. Biol., 20 (2024) 1608-1616. 

Zhang C, Zhou C, Magassa A, Jin X, Fang D, Zhang X. A platform for mapping reactive cysteines within the immunopeptidome. Nat. Commun., 15 (2024) 9698.

Tao Y, Remillard D, Vinogradova EV, Yokoyama M, Banchenko S, Schwefel D, Melillo B, Schreiber SL, Zhang X, Cravatt BF. Targeted Protein Degradation by Electrophilic PROTACs that Stereoselectively and Site-Specifically Engage DCAF1. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 144 (2022) 18688-18699. 

Awards

Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Innovation Research Award, 2025

Ryan Family Research Acceleration Fund Award, 2025

OKeanos-CAPA Young Investigator Award at the Chemical and Biology Interface, 2025

NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA), 2024

CLP Convergence Research Award, 2024

American Cancer Society IRG Pilot Award, 2023

Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Innovation Research Award, 2023

Falk Medical Research Trust Catalyst Award, 2023

CLP Cornew Innovation Award, 2022

Illumina Pilot Award, 2022

NCI-SPORE in Prostate Cancer Career Enhancement Program Award, 2022

Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Award, 2022

Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists, 2021

NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), 2020

Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, 2018

Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, 2018

Bayer Teaching Excellence Award of Cornell University, 2013

Eli Lilly Asia Outstanding Graduate Thesis Award, 2011

Chu Kochen Scholarship of Zhejiang University, 2010