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Erkin Kuru, Ph.D., Former LSRF Fellow – Harvard Medical School, Chief Scientific Officer – Externa Biosciences

Date and Time
Location
ESB 1001

Speaker:

Erkin Kuru, Ph.D.

Former LSRF Fellow – Harvard Medical School

Chief Scientific Officer – Externa Biosciences

Faculty Host: Michelle O’Malley

Title: Synthetic Amino Acids for Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Programmable Proteins

Abstract: 

Expanding the chemical repertoire of life unlocks new avenues for diagnostics, therapeutics, and fundamental biology. This first became evident with our fluorescent D-amino acids for studying bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. These tools, now widely adopted globally, established the value of versatile platforms multiplying discovery across fields. We extended this approach to proteins through a genetic code expansion platform that bypasses the substrate limitations and low throughput of traditional methods. This enables site-specific incorporation of diverse synthetic L-amino acids with direct translational impact. Using this platform, we developed oxygen-independent fluorogenic amino acids as nanosensors with orders-of-magnitude signal amplification, and enhanced therapeutic proteins from computational designs. Most recently, we discovered nucleobase amino acids that install DNA- like recognition directly into proteins, enabling ribosomally synthesized peptide nucleic acids (rs-PNAs). Our work shows how chemical synthetic biology platforms accelerate discovery from basic biology to translation. By engineering programmability into protein function beyond evolutionary constraints, nucleobase amino acids represent the next frontier.

Bio:

Erkin Kuru completed postdoctoral training as an LSRF Fellow in George Church's laboratory at Harvard Medical School and serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Externa Biosciences. During his PhD at Indiana University Bloomington, he developed fluorescent D-amino acids for bacterial cell wall imaging, tools being used by over 200 laboratories worldwide. His postdoctoral work extended this platform approach through chemical tRNA charging methods for incorporating diverse synthetic amino acids into proteins, including nucleobase amino

acids that enable programmable molecular recognition. Externa Biosciences has secured over $6M in partnerships based on this technology. He has authored 38 papers with 5,300+ citations and received HMS Genetics DEI Champion Awards (2022 & 2023).