Vadim Cherezov is a Professor of Chemistry, Physics & Astronomy at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience Bridge Institute’s Department of Chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in biophysics in 1997 from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and completed his postdoctoral studies in the Prof. Caffrey group at The Ohio State University.
Research in Dr. Cherezov’s lab is focused on understanding how the environment of biological membranes regulates membrane protein structure and functions, and what are the implications of these effects in disease states. For more than a decade, Dr. Cherezov was involved in the development of lipidic cubic phase technologies for membrane protein stabilization and crystallization. These developments culminated in a breakthrough in structural studies of G protein-coupled receptors, starting with the first high-resolution human GPCR structure bound to a diffusible ligand in 2007 and leading to over 20 unique GPCR structures since then.
Dr. Cherezov’s current interests are related to the development of high-throughput approaches for using X-ray free electron lasers for structural studies of membrane proteins in lipidic environment.