Adam G. Kreutzer

Associate Researcher, Department of Chemistry

Biography

Adam G. Kreutzer, Ph.D., is an Associate Researcher in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on understanding the molecular structures of amyloid oligomers in Alzheimer's disease and developing immunotherapies targeting these toxic protein assemblies. Kreutzer has developed conformationally constrained peptide model systems that mimic amyloid-beta oligomers, enabling X-ray crystallographic studies that provide atomic-resolution insights into oligomer structures.

Kreutzer has authored 33 peer-reviewed publications and holds two U.S. patents related to synthetic beta-amyloid peptides and cyclic peptides for therapeutic applications. His work includes generating antibodies against structurally defined amyloid-beta oligomer mimics that recognize pathological features in Alzheimer's disease brain tissue and protect neurons from amyloid-beta toxicity. He has also contributed to structure-based drug design efforts, including the development of a cyclic peptide inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease.

Kreutzer received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in 2017, where he conducted his graduate research with Professor James Nowick. He completed postdoctoral training at UC Irvine, supported by an NIA Postdoctoral Training Grant in Neurobiology of Aging. He is a member of the Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment, the Society for Neuroscience, and the American Chemical Society.

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Education

Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of California Irvine, 2017
M.S. in Oncological Sciences, University of Utah, 2008
B.S. in Biology, University of Utah, 2006

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Distinctions

Second place prize for best poster at the 2018 Gordon Conference on Chemistry and Biology of Peptides, 2018
Regents Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Irvine, 2016
Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, University of Utah, 2005

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Areas of Expertise

Chemical Biology of Neurodegeneration
Amyloid Oligomer Structural Characterization
Macrocyclic Beta-Hairpin Peptide Design
X-ray Crystallography of Aggregates
Conformationally Constrained Immunotherapy Development
Beta-Strand-Selective Antibody Generation
Cyclic Peptide Protease Inhibitors

Recent Publications

Ruttenberg, S. M., Dhaoui, R., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Antibodies Raised Against a Structurally Defined Aβ Oligomer Mimic Protect Human iPSC Neurons from Aβ Toxicity at Sub-stoichiometric Concentrations” (opens in new tab), PLoS One, vol. 20, pp. e0331024, 2025.
Zhu, J., Kreutzer, A. G., Liu, Z., Li, X., Richter, S. M., Vojislava, P., Nowick, J. S., “A β-hairpin Peptide Derived from Aβ Forms Different Oligomers in the Crystal State and in Aqueous Solution” (opens in new tab), Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, vol. 23, pp. 3881–3893, 2025.
Samdin, T.D., Kreutzer, A.G., Sahrai, V., Wierzbicki, M., Nowick, J.S., “α-Methylation Enables the X-ray Crystallographic Observation of Oligomeric Assemblies Formed by a β-Hairpin Peptide” (opens in new tab), Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 90, pp. 394–400, 2024.
Brunicardi, J.E.H., Griffin, J.H., Ferracane, M.J., Kreutzer, A.G., Small, J., Mendoza, A.T., Ziller, J.W., Nowick, J.S., “Structure-Activity Relationship Studies of the Peptide Antibiotic Clovibactin” (opens in new tab), Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 89, pp. 12479–12484, 2024.
Yang, H., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Supramolecular Interactions of Teixobactin Analogues in the Crystal State” (opens in new tab), Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 89, pp. 5104–5108, 2024.
Ruttenberg, S. M., Kreutzer, A. G., Truex, N. L., Nowick, J. S., “β-Hairpin Alignment Alters Oligomer Formation in Aβ-Derived Peptides” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 63, pp. 212–218, 2024.
Samdin, T. D., Jones, C. R., Guaglianone, G., Kreutzer, A. G., Freites, J. A., Wierzbicki, M., Nowick, J. S., “A β-Barrel-Like Tetramer Formed by a β-Hairpin Derived from Aβ” (opens in new tab), Chemical Science, vol. 15, pp. 285–297, 2024.
Kreutzer, A. G., Parrocha, C. M. T., Haerianardakani, S., Guaglianone, G., Nguyen, J. T., Diab, M. N., Yong, W., Perez, M., Head, E., Nowick, J. S., “Antibodies Raised Against an Aβ Oligomer Mimic Recognize Pathological Features in Alzheimer's Disease and Associated Amyloid-Disease Brain Tissue” (opens in new tab), ACS Central Science, vol. 10, pp. 104–121, 2024.
Kreutzer, A. G., Malonis, R. J., Parrocha, C. M. T., Tong, K., Guaglianone, G., Nguyen, J. T., Diab, M. N., Lai, J. R., Nowick, J. S., “Generation and Study of Antibodies against Two Triangular Trimers Derived from Aβ” (opens in new tab), Peptide Science, vol. 116, pp. e24333, 2024.
Kreutzer, A. G., Guaglianone, G., Yoo, S., Parrocha, C. M. T., Ruttenberg, S. M., Malonis, R. J., Tong, K., Lin, Y., Nguyen, J. T., Howitz, W. J., Diab, M. N., Hamza, I. L., Lai, J. R., Wysocki, V. H., Nowick, J. S., “Probing Differences Among Aβ Oligomers with Two Triangular Trimers Derived from Aβ” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 120, pp. e2219216120, 2023.
Krumberger, M., Li, X., Kreutzer, A. G., Peoples, A. J., Nitti, A. G., Cunningham, A. M., Jones, C. R., Achorn, C., Ling, L. L., Hughes, D. E., Nowick J. S., “Synthesis and Stereochemical Determination of the Peptide Antibiotic Novo29” (opens in new tab), Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 88, pp. 2214–2220, 2023.
McKnelly, K. J., Kreutzer, A. G., Howitz, W. J., Haduong, K., Yoo, S., Hart, C., Nowick J. S., “Effects of Familial Alzheimer's Disease Mutations on the Assembly of a β-Hairpin Peptide Derived from Aβ16–36” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 61, pp. 446–454, 2022.
Zhang, S., Yoo, S., Snyder, D. T., Katz, B. B., Henrickson, A., Demeler, B., Wysocki, V. H., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “A Disulfide-Stabilized Aβ that Forms Dimers but Does Not Form Fibrils” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 61, pp. 252–264, 2022.
Guaglianone, G., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Synthesis and Study of Macrocyclic β-Hairpin Peptides for Investigating Amyloid Oligomers” (opens in new tab), Methods in Enzymology, vol. 656, pp. 123–168, 2021.
Zhang, S., Guaglianone, G., Morris, M. A., Yoo, S., Howitz, W. J., Jusuf, H., Huizar, G., Lin, J., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Expression of N-Terminal Cysteine Aβ42 and Bioconjugation to Generate Fluorescent and Biotinylated Aβ42” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 60, pp. 1191–1200, 2021.
Haerianardakani, S., Kreutzer, A. G., Salveson, P., Samdin, T. D., Guaglianone, G. E., Nowick, J. S., “Phenylalanine Mutation to Cyclohexylalanine Facilitates Triangular Trimer Formation by β-Hairpins Derived from Aβ” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 142, pp. 20708–20716, 2020.
Kreutzer, A. G., Samdin, T. D., Guaglianone, G., Spencer, R. K., Nowick, J. S., “X-ray Crystallography Reveals Parallel and Antiparallel β-Sheet Dimers of a β-Hairpin Derived from Aβ16–36 that Assemble to Form Different Tetramers” (opens in new tab), ACS Chemical Neuroscience, vol. 11, pp. 2340–2347, 2020.

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Most Cited Publications

Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Elucidating the Structures of Amyloid Oligomers with Macrocyclic β-Hairpin Peptides: Insights into Alzheimer's Disease and other Amyloid Diseases” (opens in new tab), Accounts of Chemical Research, vol. 51, pp. 706–718, 2018.
Kreutzer, A. G., Hamza, I. H., Spencer, R. K., Nowick J. S., “X-ray Crystallographic Structures of a Trimer, Dodecamer, and Annular Pore Formed by an Aβ17–36 β-Hairpin” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 138, pp. 4634–4642, 2016.
Kreutzer, A. G., Yoo, S., Spencer, R. K., Nowick, J. S., “Stabilization, Assembly, and Toxicity of Trimers Derived from Aβ” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 139, pp. 966–975, 2017.
Zhang, S., Krumberger, M., Morris, M. A., Parrocha, C. M. T., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Structure-Based Drug Design of an Inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Main Protease Using Free Software: A Tutorial for Students and Scientists” (opens in new tab), European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 218, pp. 11390, 2021.
Salveson, P. J., Haerianardakani, S., Thuy-Boun, A., Yoo, S., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Repurposing Triphenylmethane Dyes to Bind Trimers Derived from Aβ” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 140, pp. 11745–11754, 2018.
Kreutzer, A. G., Krumberger, M., Diessner, E. M., Parrocha, C. M. T., Morris, M. A., Guaglianone, G., Butts, C. T., Nowick, J. S., “A Cyclic Peptide Inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease” (opens in new tab), European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 221, pp. 113530, 2021.
Samdin, T. D., Kreutzer, A. G., Nowick, J. S., “Exploring Amyloid Oligomers with Peptide Model Systems” (opens in new tab), Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, vol. 64, pp. 106–115, 2021.
Spencer, R. K., Kreutzer, A. G., Salveson, P. J., Li, H., Nowick, J. S., “X-ray Crystallographic Structures of Oligomers of Peptides Derived from β2-Microglobulin” (opens in new tab), Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 137, pp. 6304–6311, 2015.
Kreutzer, A. G., Spencer, R. K., McKnelly, K. J., Yoo, S., Hamza, I. H., Salveson, P.J., Nowick, J. S., “A Hexamer of a Peptide Derived from Aβ16–36” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 56, pp. 6061–6071, 2017.
Kreutzer, A. G., Salveson, P. J., Spencer, R. K., Nowick, J. S., “X-ray Crystallographic Structure of a Compact Dodecamer from a Peptide Derived from Aβ16–36” (opens in new tab), Organic Letters, vol. 19, pp. 3462–3465, 2017.

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Contact Information

Email: akreutze@uci.edu

Phone: 9496109626

Address: 4302 Natural Sciences I

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 5/22/2026.