Ashraf Brik

Ashraf Brik(Hebrew:אשרף בריק,Arabic:أشرف بريق) is a full professor at the Schulich Faculty ofChemistryat theTechnionInstitute of Technology,Israel.His laboratory specializes in developing synthetic methods forchemical synthesisofproteinswith post-translational modifications (PTMs) in quantities that allow for them to be studied thoroughly. Brik's group is developing novel modulators based on smallmolecules,peptidesand peptidomimetics, to influenceenzymes(such as deubiquitinases) and proteins involved in various diseases. With the help of these tools, it is possible to understand how molecules and biological systems affect health.
Brik, one of ten children, was born and raised inAbu Snanin northern Israel.
He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry fromBen-Gurion University of the Negev, a master's degree in chemistry from the Technion. He studied for his doctoral degree, in which he focused on research of chemical synthesis of proteins, from a joint course of the Technion and theScripps Research Instituteunder the mentorship of Professor Chi-Huey Wong.Brik authored the thesis “Design and Synthesis of Novel Catalytic Proteins Based on Polypeptide Scaffolds”, under the supervision of professor Ehud Keinan (Technion) and professor Phillip Dawson (The Scripps Research Institute).He was promoted to senior researcher in 2004. He developed the synthesis ofglycoproteins. In addition, Brik was involved in projects related to the discovery of inhibitors of various enzymes such asHIV protease.
In 2007 Brik joined the Department of Chemistry of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. In 2011 he was promoted to associate professor and in 2012 to full professor. In 2014, Brik moved to the Technion Institute of Technology, where he holds the Jordan and Irene Tark Chair. 
Brik has coauthored more than 120 publications in key periodicals:Science,Nature Chemistry,Nature Chemical Biology,Nature Protocols,Journal of the American Chemical Society,Angewandte Chemie,Chemical Society Reviews,Chemical Scienceand others.Brik is a member of advisory and editing boards of a number of periodicals, includingCell Chemical Biology,ChemBioChemandOrganic and Biomolecular Chemistry.He has also registered 6 patents.
The research efforts of Brik's group are budgeted by many foundations, including the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Program, which recently awarded him theERC Advanced Grant.
Posttranslational modification ofproteinsaffects protein structure, function, stability and sub-cellular localization, making the process crucial to health and disease. Yet understanding the effects of these modifications at the molecular level has been hindered by the lack of homogeneously modified proteins obtained via traditionalbiochemicalandmolecular biologyapproaches. Moreover, the preparation of such complex bioconjugates at workable quantities is highly demanding. Recent advances in protein chemistry applying chemical and semisynthetic approaches are becoming increasingly beneficial to overcome these challenges. The Brik lab has been developing novel synthetic methods to prepare site-specifically modified proteins for biochemical, biophysical and functional analyses.
The Brik group is one of world leaders in devising new methods to prepareubiquitin-based conjugates necessary for detailed studies on ubiquitin signaling. Ubiquitination is the cellular process where the 76amino acidubiquitin protein, or a polyubiquitin chain, is linked to a protein target, affecting a variety of biological processes such as protein degradation, trafficking, transcription and theDNAdamage response. Not surprisingly, ubiquitination plays a key role in various diseases, such asneurological disorders, infectious diseases andcancer.In the face of challenges in producing ubiquitin conjugates using traditional molecular biology and enzymatic approaches,  the Brik lab has developed a number of novel chemical methods for the preparation of large quantities of highly homogeneous and pure ubiquitin conjugates which have shed light on the mechanisms of ubiquitin signaling and enabled the discovery of novel modulators for the enzymes involved these processes.