Research in the Che lab will be aimed at comprehensively characterizing and dissecting the molecular mechanisms of opioid receptor signaling. The goal is to gain an atomic-level understanding of opioid receptor activation, and to use this information to develop chemical and synthetic biologic tools (e.g., nanobodies) to ultimately lead to the development of safer, non-addictive pain medications. His work will integrate structural (e.g., X-ray, Cryo-EM) and pharmacological approaches, and leverage these data to generate subtype-specific novel chemicals as in vivo precision pharmacology probes to understand opioid receptor signaling spatiotemporally. These will be useful probes to interrogate signaling pathways and provide a platform for the discovery of new chemical and biological matter for potential therapeutic applications.