Chaitan Khosla

Chaitan Khosla is the Wells H. Rauser and Harold M. Petiprin Professor at Stanford University, holding joint appointments in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Chemistry. He is also the Director of the Stanford ChEM-H (2012–2020) and the current Director of the Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA). His research focuses on enzymology and metabolism, particularly engineering polyketide synthases for antibiotic discovery and investigating celiac disease pathogenesis. Key highlights include contributions to understanding transglutaminase 2’s role in celiac disease and the biosynthesis of novel antibiotics like vibriomycins. Khosla has been recognized with prestigious awards, including memberships in the National Academy of Sciences (2020) and National Academy of Engineering (2009), and has advised numerous doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. He has contributed to clinical trials, such as the COPPS platform for evaluating outpatient COVID-19 therapies.

Education: PhD in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (1990). His research spans interdisciplinary areas including protein engineering, enzymatic assembly lines, and immune mechanisms. Notable collaborations include work with the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI). His laboratories investigate both fundamental enzymology and translational applications, bridging basic science and clinical challenges.