Jonathan is a biochemist and molecular biologist with a background in cell cycle regulation and biotherapeutic discovery. He is currently deploying Octant’s high-throughput and multiplex technologies to understand the pharmacology of the small molecules we discover. 

He received his BA from Berkeley in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry from UCSF with David O. Morgan. His thesis focused on understanding how Cyclin-dependent kinases regulate transcription through multisite phosphorylation mechanisms. 

Outside of the lab, Jonathan enjoys cooking for friends and hunting for new bottles at local wineries and importers. 

Selected Publications

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*, Howard CJ, Hartooni N, Safari M, Frankel AD, Morgan DO. 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, Ghent CM, Campbell MG, Cheng Y, Morgan DO. Cohesin cleavage by separase is enhanced by a substrate motif distinct from the cleavage site. Nat Commun. 2019

De La Rosa VY, Asfaha J, Fasullo M, Loguinov A, Li P, Moore LE, Rothman N, Nakamura J, Swenberg JA, Scelo G, Zhang L, Smith MT, Vulpe CD. High-Throughput Functional Genomics Identifies Modulators of TCE Metabolite Genotoxicity and Candidate Susceptibility Genes. Toxicol Sci. 2017