Biology Section

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Carmen Blanco

Post-Doctoral Fellows

  • María Elena Hernández

Technicians

  • Mª Isabel Albarrán
  • Antonio Cebriá
  • Elena Gómez-Casero
  • Javier Klett

Targeted cancer therapies by means of small molecules or antibodies act on specific molecular targets to block cancer growth and progression. Kinases have become attractive molecular targets for the treatment of numerous cancer types; hence the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved many small-molecule kinase inhibitors for clinical use, some of them irreversible inhibitors. Similarly, given the importance of epigenetic marks in tumorigenesis, modifiers of DNA or histones have become attractive therapeutic targets; currently, there are 6 epigenetic drugs clinically approved for cancer treatment by the FDA. In collaboration with Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, we recently started an early drug discovery project to develop SETD8 inhibitors, as non-advanced inhibitors have been described so far. By developing a non-radioactive assay, we have been able to perform a screening campaign and identify several molecules as starting points to obtain good SETD8 inhibitors that are both reversible and irreversible.

Publications

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