Alanna Schepartz

About

Alanna Schepartz is a principal investigator at UC Berkeley, leading the Schepartz Laboratory. Her research focuses on chemical biology, particularly on the development of innovative molecular tools and techniques to study biological systems. She has a background in chemistry and molecular biology, and her work contributes to understanding the mechanisms of biomolecular interactions and designing new therapeutic strategies. As a prominent figure in her field, she is dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge through her research and mentoring students and postdoctoral scientists in her lab.

Research topics

• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Chemistry
• Biophysics
• Materials science
• Optoelectronics
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Genetics
• Computational biology
• Optics

Selected publications

• Structure of the bacterial ribosome at 2 Å resolution

  eLife · 2020 · 259 citations

  Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), we determined the structure of the Escherichia coli 70S ribosome with a global resolution of 2.0 Å. The maps reveal unambiguous positioning of protein and RNA residues, their detailed chemical interactions, and chemical modifications. Notable features include the first examples of isopeptide and thioamide backbone substitutions in ribosomal proteins, the former likely conserved in all domains of life. The maps also reveal extensive solvation of the small…

  DOI

• Extremely Bright, Near-IR Emitting Spontaneously Blinking Fluorophores Enable Ratiometric Multicolor Nanoscopy in Live Cells

  ACS Central Science · 2021 · 62 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  enables simultaneous, live-cell, two-color SMLM of two intracellular organelles (ER + mitochondria) with only a single laser and no chemical additives.

  DOI

• Genetic Encoding of Three Distinct Noncanonical Amino Acids Using Reprogrammed Initiator and Nonsense Codons

  ACS Chemical Biology · 2021 · 58 citations

  , in conjunction with its cognate tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase and two mutually orthogonal pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetases, we demonstrate that UAU can be reassigned along with UAG or UAA to encode two distinct ncAAs in the same protein. Furthermore, by engineering the substrate specificity of one of the pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetases, we developed a triply orthogonal system that enables simultaneous reassignment of UAU, UAG, and UAA to produce proteins containing three distinct ncAAs at precisely defined s…

  DOI

• Peptide Backbone Editing via Post-Translational O to C Acyl Shift

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-02-11 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Despite tremendous efforts to engineer translational machinery, replacing the encoded peptide backbone with new-to-nature structures remains a significant challenge. C, H, O, and N are the elements of life, yet ribosomes are capable of forming only C-N bonds as amides, C-O bonds as esters, and C-S bonds as thioesters. There is no current strategy to site-selectively form C-C bonds as ketones embedded in the backbones of ribosomal products. As an alternative to direct ribosomal C-C bond formation…

  PublisherDOI

• Chemical and ribosomal synthesis of atropisomeric and macrocyclic peptides with embedded quinolines

  Nature Chemistry · 2025-09-17 · 6 citations

  articleCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01GM043501

  NIH · $1.8M · 1998

• NIH Grant R01GM131372

  NIH · $299k · 2021

• NSF Center for Genetically Encoded Materials

  NSF · $19.8M · 2020–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Scott J. Miller

  NextFlex

  118 shared

• William L. Jorgensen

  Yale University

  91 shared

• M. G. Finn

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  85 shared

• Paul S. Weiss

  California NanoSystems Institute

  85 shared

• Courtney C. Aldrich

  University of Minnesota System

  85 shared

• Marc A. Hillmyer

  University of Minnesota

  85 shared

• Jillian M. Buriak

  University of Alberta

  85 shared

• Stuart J. Rowan

  University of Chicago

  85 shared

Labs

• Schepartz LaboratoryPI

  A chemical and synthetic biology research group at UC Berkeley

Education

• Ph.D., Chemistry

  Columbia University

  1986

• B.S., Chemistry

  State University of New York

  1982

Awards & honors

• Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry (2020)
• Inspiring Yale Award, Yale University (2018)
• Wheland Medal, University of Chicago (2015)
• Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences (2014)
• ACS Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemi…

Similar researchers at University of California, Berkeley

• Peidong Yangh-262
• Jennifer A. Doudnah-230
• Jeffrey R. Longh-189