Jonathan is a biochemist and molecular biologist who leads multidisciplinary teams in drug discovery. As a program leader at Octant Bio, he uses high-throughput chemistry and multiplexed assay technologies to uncover drug mechanisms and guides the development of precision medicines across Octant's Oncology portfolio.
Jonathan earned his BA in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from UC Berkeley and his PhD in Biochemistry from UCSF, where he trained with David O. Morgan. His doctoral research examined how cyclin-dependent kinases use multisite phosphorylation to control the timing of gene expression during the cell cycle.
Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking with friends, trail running, and weight-lifting.
Selected Publications
Howard CJ, Abell NS, Osuna BA, et al. High-resolution deep mutational scanning of the melanocortin-4 receptor enables target characterization for drug discovery. eLife. 2025.
Skvorak K, Liu J, Kruse N, et al. Oral enzyme therapy for maple syrup urine disease suppresses plasma leucine levels in intermediate MSUD mice and healthy nonhuman primates. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2023.
Asfaha JB, Örd M, Carlson CR, Faustova I, Loog M, Morgan DO. Multisite phosphorylation by Cdk1 initiates delayed negative feedback to control mitotic transcription. Curr Biol. 2021.
Carlson CR*, Asfaha JB*, Ghent CM*, et al. Phosphoregulation of phase separation by the SARS-CoV-2 N protein suggests a biophysical basis for its dual functions. Mol Cell. 2020. *Equal contribution.
Rosen LE, Klebba JE, Asfaha JB, et al. Cohesin cleavage by separase is enhanced by a substrate motif distinct from the cleavage site. Nat Commun. 2019.
