Rafael M. Couñago, PhD

Rafael M. Couñago, PhD, is a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry Department in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and a Principal Investigator at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) at UNC. Rafael´s research group at SGC-UNC uses protein biochemistry, structural biology and cell-based assays to illuminate protein function and explore new therapeutic strategies for human diseases. Current research at SGC-UNC is focused on enabling the discovery of new antiviral compounds and realizing SGC´s vision for Target 2035, an open science initiative that aims to create chemical and biological tools for every protein in the human genome with the goal of informing drug discovery (https://www.target2035.net/). Rafael joined SGC-UNC after working as a Principal Investigator at the Center of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, Rafael served as Team Leader and CSO at SGC-UNICAMP and was a post-doctoral researcher at the laboratories of Bostjan Kobe at the University of Queensland, Australia; Kurt Krause at Otago University, New Zealand, and Youssif Shamoo at Rice University, USA. Rafael has a strong track record in recombinant protein production, biochemical and cellular assay development, and protein structure determination. Rafael has participated in several early-stage drug discovery projects in collaboration with both academic and industrial partners. Bibliography link.