Nevan Krogan uses large-scale genetics and biochemistry to define the interactions among genes and proteins that govern cell functions in health and disease. Combining bench work with computer science, his lab identifies molecular networks acting inside cells and shows how these networks respond to disease-causing mutations or infection by pathogens. Thanks to their ability to survey a cell’s complete set of genes and proteins, Krogan and his team generate novel mechanistic insights into cell biology as well as potential targets for novel therapies. Krogan’s lab is applying this unbiased approach to a number of conditions, including infectious diseases such as COVID-19, cancer and heart disease.
Disease Areas
Areas of Expertise
Lab Focus
Research Impact
The Krogan lab’s quantitative and unbiased approaches to molecular interaction mapping are disease-agnostic, and hold great promise for the discovery of new therapeutic targets through the identification of biological processes and mechanisms underlying disease. For instance, creating a large-scale protein-interaction map of SARS-CoV-2 with human cells led to the discovery of over 300 potential host-directed drug targets. Several existing drugs inhibited the virus in lab experiments, leading to clinical trials that test the repurposing of these drugs against COVID-19. In collaboration with other Gladstone labs, Krogan and his team are currently also tackling cardiac diseases, tauopathies, psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases, and are developing new proteomics and functional genomics technologies.
Professional Titles
Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Professor, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UC San Francisco
Director, Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI)
Faculty, Cancer Genetics, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Adjunct Faculty, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Joint Faculty, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
Director, QB3@UCSF, California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences
Director, Thermo Fisher Scientific Proteomics Facility for Disease Target Discovery
Bio
Nevan Krogan is an expert in systems biology and is known for developing and using unbiased, quantitative approaches to study a variety of diseases with the goal of developing new therapeutics. He is a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, a UC San Francisco (UCSF) professor, and Director of the intensely interdisciplinary Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI). He has authored over 350 papers and given over 400 seminars worldwide. He is a Searle Scholar, a Keck Distinguished Scholar, a recipient of the Roddenberry Prize for Biomedical Research, and was elected to EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) membership. He routinely organizes international conferences in Europe, Asia and the USA.
Krogan serves as the director and co-director of several NIH-funded Center grants, including the HIV Accessory and Regulatory Complexes Center, the Cancer Cell Map Initiative, the Host Pathogen Map Initiative, the Psychiatric Cell Map Initiative and the QBI Coronavirus Research Group Pandemic Response Program.
Originally from Canada, Krogan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Regina, Canada. He earned a PhD in medical genetics from the University of Toronto and was a Sandler Fellow at UCSF before becoming faculty.
How did you get your start in science?
"As an undergraduate student, I watched “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” and was attracted to the freedom Dr. Frankenstein had in the laboratory to conduct his own research."
Honors and Awards
2022 Elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
2021 France Legion of Honor, decreed by the President of the French Republic
2020 Excellence in Research Award from the Laboratory of Genomics Research (LGR)
2020 Clarivate Web of Science, Highly Cited Researchers 2020 - ranked in top 1% of citations for field and year
2017 The Roddenberry Innovation Award, Roddenberry Foundation
2015-2016 Blavatnik National Award Finalist, Blavatnik Foundation
2014 Top 40 Under 40, Cell
2012 Alumni Crowning Achievement Award, University of Regina
2009 Searle Scholar, Searle Foundation
2009-2014 Keck Distinguished Young Scholar, W.M. Keck Foundation
2005 L.W. Macpherson Microbiology Award
2004 Hannah Farkas-Himsley and Alexander Memorial Award
2001 Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Fellowship
1999 PGS-B Award, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
1997 Society of Chemical Industry Merit Award
1995 Canadian Cancer Society Studentship
Publications
Contact
Nevan Krogan
Email
415.734.2583
Peggy Ackerberg
Affiliate
415.476.6109
Email