Kevan Shokat

Professor Shokat is a pioneer in the development of chemical methods for investigating cellular signal transduction pathways with a particular focus on enzymes frequently activated in cancer such as protein and lipid kinases and GTPases. Dr. Shokat uses a combination of chemical synthesis and protein engineering to create uniquely traceable and regulatable kinases, allowing the function of over 100 different kinases to be uncovered across all disease areas including oncology, metabolism, and infectious disease.

Kevan is currently an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California at San Francisco. He is also a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. After receiving his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at UC Berkeley with Professor Peter Schultz, and post-doctoral work in immunology at Stanford University with Professor Chris Goodnow, Kevan began his independent research career at Princeton University where he was promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor in four years. He has received numerous awards including being named a Fellow of several prestigious research foundations including the Pew Foundation, Searle Foundation, Sloan Foundation, Glaxo-Wellcome Foundation, and the Cotrell Foundation. He has also received the Eli Lilly Award, given to the most promising biological chemist in the country under the age of 37. He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences (2010), the Institute of Medicine (2011), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011).

Kevan has successfully commercialized discoveries from his laboratory. His development of chemical-genetic tools for tracking and validating protein kinase drug targets is licensed by Artemis-Taconic for the target validation of kinases in multiple disease areas. In 2007 he co-founded Intellikine to commercialize a series of PI3K and mTOR small molecule inhibitors for cancer and inflammatory disease. In four years Intellikine progressed three compounds into Phase I including IPI-145/INK1197 (PI3Kdelta/gamma)- partnered with Infinity Pharmaceuticals, MLN0128/INK128 (mTOR), and MLN1117/INK1117 (PI3Kalpha).