VALENTIN CRACAN, PHD

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Dr. Cracan joined the Scintillon Institute faculty as an Assistant Professor in December 2018. The long-term goal of his lab is to apply quantitative metabolomics, structural enzymology and protein engineering methods to study cellular metabolism and bioenergetics in normal physiology and disease. Specifically, his research program seeks to illuminate how cellular metabolism is contributing to cancer and aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Cracan received his undergraduate degree in Biology and Biochemistry from the Moldova State University in the Republic of Moldova in 2005 and his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from University of Michigan in 2012, where he studied the intracellular pathway for trafficking of cobalamin (vitamin B12) in the laboratory of Ruma Banerjee. In 2012, he joined the laboratory of Vamsi Mootha at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. There, he obtained extensive experience in mitochondrial biology by applying his experience in enzymology and biochemistry to find ways to alleviate consequences of lesions in the electron transport chain and developed tools to study redox metabolism. Dr. Cracan is a recipient of NIH Pathway to the Independence award from NIGMS.