Maciej Walczak

The Walczak Group develops chemical tools and strategies to investigate and manipulate the structure and function of biomolecules relevant to human health and disease. Our research is highly interdisciplinary, integrating synthetic chemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, and structural approaches. We leverage both the extensive resources at the University of Colorado Boulder and collaborations across campus and beyond to address fundamental questions in chemical biology and biomedical research. Active projects fall into two broad areas: in chemical synthesis, we design and develop methods for the preparation and selective functionalization of biologically relevant molecules, including natural products, carbohydrates, peptides, and proteins. Our efforts focus on overcoming key synthetic challenges using catalytic strategies, with the goal of enabling drug discovery and development. Areas of emphasis include the synthesis and site-selective modification of complex biomolecules, late-stage functionalization to diversify natural product scaffolds, and catalysis for bioconjugation and labeling. In the chemical biology of neurodegeneration, we apply chemical principles to study the molecular underpinnings of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and related proteinopathies. Using custom-designed reagents and probes, we aim to elucidate mechanisms of protein misfolding and aggregation, define the roles of post-translational modifications, and develop cell-based models to study disease progression and evaluate potential therapeutic interventions.