Eli Chapman, Ph.D.
Professor
About Eli Chapman
Dr. Chapman is a professor at the University of Florida in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Center for Inflammation Science and Systems Medicine (CISSM). He began his scientific career at UC Berkeley, working for Prof. Peter G. Schultz. In the Schultz lab, he worked on in vitro incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins. The primary focus of these projects was to understand how hydrogen bonding contributed to protein stability. From UC Berkely, he went to Columbia University and joined the lab of Prof. James Leighton. In the Leighton lab, he developed a rhodium catalyzed silylformylation of alkenes as an entry into 1,3-polyols. He received a master’s from Columbia and then joined the lab of Prof. Chi-Huey Wong at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to complete his Ph.D. studies. In the Wong lab, he worked on biological sulfation and how to inhibit sulfotransferases. During this time, he became interested in cellular quality control, especially in the context of protein folding in a cell or organism. This curiosity led him to the lab of Prof. Arthur Horwich at Yale College of Medicine. It was in the Horwich lab that he began developing small molecule inhibitors of GroEL/ES as probes to study chaperonin physiologic action and as potential therapeutic leads. In 2012, he began his independent career at the University of Arizona. His lab has been focused on compound discovery and development primarily centered around cellular quality control. The Chapman lab has made important discoveries in the areas of HSP60/10 (GroEL/ES), HSP70, and NRF2. To date, he has trained 5 Ph.D. students and numerous master’s and undergraduate students. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed papers and holds four patents and six additional provisional patents. In 2024, he joined the University of Florida where he works at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology in the CISSM.
Teaching Profile
Research Profile
The Chapman Lab is a chemical biology lab that focuses on the discovery and development of small-molecule modulators of cellular quality control machinery. These compounds are used to answer biological questions, to validate potential therapeutic targets, and as possible therapeutic leads. There are three primary areas of focus: 1) The discovery and development of isoform selective HSP70 inhibitors as potential cancer therapeutics. 2) The development of HSP60/10 inhibitors as cancer therapeutics and GroEL/ES (the bacterial HSP60/10) inhibitors as antibiotics. 3) The discovery and development of NRF2 activators as chemopreventive compounds and NRF2 inhibitors as cancer therapeutics.
The HSP70 chaperones have been shown to be upregulated in a variety of cancers and to correlate with poor outcomes. They have, therefore, been proposed as potential drug targets. However, there are 13 HSP70 isoforms in the human body and it has been shown that there are clear advantages to being able to target one isoform selectively. We have recently reported the discovery and development of compounds with isoform selectivity. We continue to develop these compounds, striving to increase selectivity, potency, and bioavailability.
About 10 years ago, we reported a high-throughput screening campaign to discover GroEL/ES inhibitors. We have gone on to optimize some of these scaffolds, demonstrating their potential as antibiotics especially against MRSA. We have also begun exploring the human HSP60/10 chaperone system as a potential anti-cancer therapy. These latter studies will help to define HSP60/10 as a potential cancer target and the role of extracellular HSP60/10 in inflammation.
In collaboration with the lab of Dr. Donna Zhang, we have been working to discovery activators and inhibitors of the cytoprotective transcription factor NRF2. NRF2 has long played a role in the chemoprevention field, where it has been shown that activation of NRF2 confers protection against cellular insults. But, it has been shown that many cancers have upregulated NRF2, conferring a survival advantage. Therefore, we have been working to discover and develop compounds that directly target NRF2 and block its protective functions.
- Cellular quality control
- Chaperones
- Chemical biology
- Drug discovery
Publications
Grants
Education
Contact Details
- Business:
- (561) 228-2559
- Business:
- chapmaneli@ufl.edu
- Business Mailing:
-
130 SCRIPPS WAY
JUPITER FL 33458 - Business Street:
-
120 SCRIPPS WAY
JUPITER FL 33458