Rate My Professor Craig Vander Kooi

Craig W. Vander Kooi, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, where he has served since 2022. He concurrently holds the positions of Co-Director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research (CASBR) and Associate Director of the BMS/BMB PhD Program. Prior to his appointment at UF, Vander Kooi advanced through the faculty ranks at the University of Kentucky, starting as Assistant Professor from 2008 to 2013, progressing to Associate Professor from 2013 to 2020, and reaching full Professor from 2020 to 2022. His educational background includes a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology earned magna cum laude from Wheaton College in 1997, an M.S. in Chemistry magna cum laude from the University of Michigan in 2000, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Vanderbilt University in 2004. During his doctoral training under Dr. Walter Chazin, he employed NMR spectroscopy and biochemical techniques to characterize protein structures and interactions. As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Daniel Leahy, he developed proficiency in X-ray crystallography and biophysical methods to study receptor signaling pathways relevant to disease.

The research in the Vander Kooi lab centers on elucidating the mechanisms of physical interactions that underpin fundamental biological processes and human diseases at the atomic level. This work integrates structural biology tools, such as NMR and X-ray crystallography, with mass spectrometry, biochemical assays, cellular models, and animal systems. Current projects encompass structural analyses and engineering of glucan kinases and phosphatases for therapeutic purposes in collaboration with Dr. Matthew Gentry; investigations into the molecular underpinnings of hearing loss associated with GIPC3 mutations alongside Drs. Gregory Frolenkov and Bo Zhao; and development of molecular spatial imaging technologies as Co-Director of CASBR with Drs. Ramon Sun and Matthew Gentry. Vander Kooi has obtained substantial funding as Principal Investigator for NIH grants including "Taperin-based macromolecular complex at the base of stereocilia" (NIDCD, 2024–present) and "Deciphering the Mechanisms by which Long Chain Fatty Acid Oxidation Influences Microvesicular Steatosis" (NIDDK, 2025–present), as well as Co-Investigator roles on initiatives targeting glycogen metabolism in Ewing’s sarcoma (NCI, 2024–present), Lafora disease treatment (NINDS, 2023–present), and aberrant glycogen in lung adenocarcinoma (NCI, 2022–present). His contributions advance understanding in structural biology and biomolecular mechanisms.