John Kuriyan

John Kuriyan is an Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of BIO. His research focuses on the mechanisms, evolution, and structures of molecular switches involved in cellular signal transduction. Using biochemical, biophysical, structural, and cell biological analyses, his lab investigates how these mechanisms evolve and how they enable proteins to respond to input signals. A major focus is understanding allosteric communication in proteins and how mutations affect their function. His work has contributed to breakthroughs in understanding the activation mechanisms of tyrosine kinases, including the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and the regulation of signaling proteins like Ras and CaMKII. His research has implications for cancer and immune diseases and has advanced the understanding of DNA replication through studies of clamp-loader complexes.