Nicholas Sawyer, Ph.D., an assistant professor of bioorganic chemistry and chemical biology, is developing synthetic proteins that can lead to new drug treatments and help us better understand human health and disease.

“People have known about protein interactions since the 50’s. But at the same time, these protein interactions—the ways in which we were able to target and think about them as molecular targets—have really evolved in the past decade or two,” Sawyer said.

In this faculty mini-lecture, he breaks down his research and explains how his work can make a difference.

Protein interactions are involved in every living system and disease,” Sawyer said. “We can pick and choose what we study, and we’re trying to go after things that are important to people.”