Benjamin Cravatt III
Benjamin Franklin Cravatt III is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.[1] Considered a co-inventor of activity-based proteomics and a substantial contributor to research on the endocannabinoid system, he is a prominent figure in the nascent field of chemical biology. Cravatt was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2014,[1] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.[2] He is Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology, a Cope Scholar, and a Searle Scholar.
Benjamin F. Cravatt III | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 13, 1970 |
| Education | Stanford University B.S. and B.A. (1992) The Scripps Research Institute Ph.D. (1996) |
| Known for | Proteomics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemical Biology |
| Institutions | The Scripps Research Institute Vividion Therapeutics ActivX Biosciences Abide Therapeutics |
| Doctoral advisors | |
Early life and education
His father was a dentist and his mother a dental hygienist, both of whom instilled in Cravatt an interest in biology as a child.[1]
Cravatt entered Stanford University in 1988, graduating in 1992 with a BS in the Biological Sciences and a BA in History.[1][3] He then received a PhD in Macromolecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in 1996,[1] where he worked under the joint supervision of Dale L. Boger and Richard Lerner.
Research
His early contributions to the cannabinoid field include identification and characterization of the endocannabinoid-terminating enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH),[1] as well as the isolation of the novel soporific compound oleamide from cerebrospinal fluid.[4][5]
Cravatt and colleagues pioneered the activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) chemical proteomic technology, which they used in 2010 to elucidate certain global proteomic features of cysteine proteases.[1] Cravatt's lab has since combined the ABPP technology with metabolomics.[1]
Awards and professional service
Among the awards that Cravatt has received are the TR100 Award in 2002, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry in 2004, the ASBMB-Merck Award in 2014 and the Sato Memorial Award in 2015.[1] Cravatt also received an NCI MERIT grant in 2009.[1] In 2022 he was awarded the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.[6]
Cravatt is a co-founder of Vividion Therapeutics, Abide Therapeutics and ActivX Biosciences. He formerly served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society and Chemical Science.
References
- Viegas, Jennifer (2 February 2016). "Profile of Benjamin Cravatt". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113 (5): 1109–11. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.1109V. doi:10.1073/pnas.1525099113. PMC 4747733. PMID 26811454.
- "National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected" (Press release). United States: National Academy of Sciences. 29 April 2014. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
Cravatt, Benjamin F.; professor and chair, department of chemical physiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.
- Bogyo, Matthew; Cravatt, Benjamin F. (February 2007). "Genomics and proteomics: From genes to function: advances in applications of chemical and systems biology". Current Opinion in Chemical Biology (Editorial Overview). 11: 1–3. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2006.12.029.
- Cravatt, B.F.; Giang, D.K.; Mayfield, S.P.; Boger, D.L.; Lerner, R.A. (7 November 1996). "Molecular characterization of an enzyme that degrades neuromodulatory fatty-acid amides". Nature. 384 (6604): 83–7. Bibcode:1996Natur.384...83C. doi:10.1038/384083a0. PMID 8900284. S2CID 4288981.
- Cravatt, BF; Prospero-Garcia, O; Siuzdak, G; Gilula, NB; Henriksen, SJ; Boger, DL; Lerner, RA (9 June 1995). "Chemical characterization of a family of brain lipids that induce sleep". Science. 268 (5216): 1506–9. Bibcode:1995Sci...268.1506C. doi:10.1126/science.7770779. PMID 7770779.
- Wolf Prize in Chemistry 2022