Krzysztof Palczewski

Krzysztof Palczewski is a Polish biochemist working at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2012 he was awarded Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science, the most prestigious scientific award for Polish scientists, for characterizing crystal structures of native and activated G protein-coupled receptor, rhodopsin, involved in eyesight.
His MS and PhD are from the University of Wroclaw and Technical University of Wroclaw respectively (Poland), working with Dr. M. Kochman. His early posts were at the University of Florida and the Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Palczewski completed much of his pivotal research at the University of Washington and moved to become the Chair and John H. Hord professor of Pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University in 2005. In 2016 he was appointed as Distinguished Professor of the Case Western Reserve University.
He is the founder of two drug discovery companies, Polgenix and Retinagenix.

Palczewski's research interest lie in mapping the Visual Transduction System. His work with determining the crystal structure of rhodopsin has given new insight into the function of G protein receptors. Furthermore, his work on visual cycle has led to revolutionary advances in understanding hereditary blindness, leading to implementation of novel pharmacological treatments that can slow retinal degeneration in adults.His team's latest efforts indicate that repetitive 2-photon imaging of the human eye can safely reveal the visual system's subcellular architecture and that humans can detect infrared light due to simultaneous 2-photon absorption.