Alanna Schepartz

Alanna Schepartz is a Professor of Molecular Therapeutics at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of BIO. Her research group explores questions spanning the chemistry-biology continuum, focusing on the chemistry of complex cellular processes and the design or discovery of molecules with unique properties. The group applies tools from organic synthesis, biochemistry, biophysics, and structural and molecular biology. Current projects include repurposing the ribosome to biosynthesize sequence-defined chemical polymers, improving tools for trafficking proteins to the cytosol and nucleus, understanding how chemical information is transported through cellular membranes, and developing new probes for imaging organelle dynamics at super-resolution.

Alanna Schepratz is a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, specializing in chemical biology, synthetic biology, cell biology, peptide and protein chemistry, and organic synthesis. Her research focuses on developing β-peptides and foldamers as tools to inhibit protein–protein interactions, particularly in the context of diseases like HIV and cancer. She explores the structural and functional properties of β-peptides, their role in cellular processes, and their applications in live-cell imaging and drug discovery. Her work also addresses challenges in assay interference and the design of cell-permeable probes for super-resolution microscopy.