Christopher Schafer is the Molecular Pharmacology Highlighted Trainee Author for the October 2023 issue. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Skaggs School of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, at the laboratory of Tracy Handel. The MolPharm article that earned him the selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Atypical Chemokine Receptor 3 ‘Senses’ CXC Chemokine Receptor 4 Activation Through GPCR Kinase Phosphorylation” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/molpharm.123.000710.
Dr. Schafer earned his PhD from Oregon Health and Science University in the lab of David Farrens. His thesis explored the relationship between ligand binding and protein conformation in the visual G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) rhodopsin. He continued his work in the GPCR field as a post-doctoral fellow with Tracy Handel at the University of California, San Diego. His research focused on resolving the mechanisms of chemokine receptor activation by studying the structure and function of canonical and atypical receptors, CXCR4 and ACKR3, that both respond to the same signal, CXCL12. This work resulted in the first structure of an atypical receptor, alone and in complex with arrestins, and evidence of indirect regulation of ACKR3 by CXCR4 through a GPCR kinase intermediary. These results suggest another means of pharmacologically targeting these receptors and provide a paradigm for interpreting the responses of other atypical receptor systems. This research is presented in the highlighted work.
Dr. Schafer was recently appointed as an Assistant Professor in the medicinal chemistry group at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research continues to study the structure and function of atypical chemokine receptors to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive their atypicalness. The results of this research will provide insights not only into the unique mechanisms of atypical GPCRs, but also further our understanding of how activation of GPCRs leads to effector discrimination.
In his free time, Chris enjoys adventures with his family, exploring Amsterdam and Europe and running during breaks between Dutch rainstorms.