The Bernardes group bridges the gap between organic chemistry and biology to unlock fundamental biological knowledge and pave the way for the next generation of targeted therapeutics.

In chemistry, the term ‘chemoselectivity’ refers to the ability of a reagent (a substance or compound that triggers a reaction) to single out a specific chemical group, ignoring other reaction pathways. Organic chemists have exploited this property to develop new catalysts and streamline the chemical synthesis of complex synthetic targets. Chemical biology takes this a step further. The group use this background in organic chemistry to harness the inherent reactivity of functional groups within biological macromolecules like DNA, RNA, and proteins to create biological probes and novel therapeutic agents. 

Our research uses chemistry principles to address questions of importance in life sciences and molecular medicine. Recent examples of emerging areas in our group in:

• methods for site-selective chemical modification of proteins and antibodies;
• drug conjugates for targeted therapeutics;
• bioorthogonal cleavage reactions for targeted drug activation;
• bifunctional molecules that harness the innate immune system; 
• small molecule RNA degraders, that when in proximity, can irreversibly degrade RNA.